tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52114444696335654632024-02-07T23:39:56.552-08:00Pinspirationlizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-76468076407762220552015-09-22T09:14:00.000-07:002015-09-22T09:15:35.312-07:00How to Make Wall Decals StickHello again faithful followers! Long time, no see. . . I MISS YOU!!! Life with three boys is crazy! Crazier than I could every imagine, but I love it nonetheless. Here is a little gift for you. A post I have been working on for, oh, about 19 months or so (!!!) Seriously, how do moms have time to do anything for themselves? It took me almost two years to get this gem ready for you guys!<br />
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Shortly before number three's arrival, I put his nursery together. (And shortly is an understatement. This was literally days before his arrival. Welcome to your life little brother.) Sometime around midnight one night I decided to put up the wall decals that came with his nursery set. You know, those stickers that are supposed to go on the walls to decorate, but claim to be removable and repositionable and still stick. I didn't think our walls were necessarily "highly" textured, but I could not make those darn things stick! I would put them on and mere seconds later they would slowly peel free and crumple to the ground. I searched online for tips and tricks but all I found were people with the same problem as me. Not one to be defeated, I figured out how to make those suckers behave against their will.<br />
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Let me backtrack a little bit. So, these particular stickers are Skip Hop brand, but this trick can apply to any of the vinyl stickers out there. Here is a close up shot of the texture on my wall, which is also covered in a semi-gloss latex paint.<br />
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After fighting with the ornery stickers for an hour or so, finding no help from my friend the internet, I was all in. I decided that these were going to stick where I wanted them even if I had to glue them up there with super glue (which is NOT what I ended up doing, so try this method first.) Disclaimer: The following process didn't damage MY walls. I can't guarantee that this won't damage your walls so do a little patch test in an inconspicuous spot first. However, throughout this, my stickers have remained fully removable, repositionable and have stayed put for the 19 months they've been there. The photos here are not of the actual process when I put them up--because I was only blogging in my brain at the time, but I have used this process to repair decals that have come off thanks to sweetie pie's help. This decal I'm repairing is above his changing table and he has ripped it with his toes while fighting against his diaper changes, sweet little angel of destruction.<br />
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What you need--an iron and a presscloth. If you don't have a press cloth, just use a scrap of cotton fabric or a towel. Something to be a barrier between the iron and the decal.) Set your iron to no steam and the heat to low-medium low to start. You may have to turn the heat up depending on how hot your iron gets and the thickness of your presscloth, but start low. You can always go up.<br />
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Position your decal on the wall where you want it. Place the presscloth over the decal.<br />
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Iron over the decal and presscloth with medium pressure making small circles for 10-15 seconds at a time. You are basically trying to soften the vinyl. Note--if you touch the actual vinyl with your iron you will most likely melt the vinyl to your iron thus ruining both your decal and your iron--so watch out!<br />
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Once you have sufficiently softened your decal, remove iron and presscloth. Run your hand along the decal using your fingers to really press the decal down into the texture grooves on your wall.<br />
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You may have to repeat the process a few times to really get a feel for how soft your vinyl needs to get and how hard to smooth the decal down so don't get discouraged if it doesn't work immediately. My decals were pretty big so I just worked it in sections around and around until all the edges were smooth against the wall. Other than that, its pretty simple. My husband did come in in the middle of the night to find me ironing the walls and he certainly gave me a crazy look. I just blamed it on the crazy pregnancy hormones and that lovely pregnancy insomnia and shooed him out of the room.<br />
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The top picture is the finished product of the original application. Here is the finished repair job:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zoomed in. You can see a tiny crack where the decal had been ripped. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But from a few feet back you don't even notice it. </td></tr>
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Hope this helps you! I would have loved to find this when I was in the middle of my frustration with the peeling decals. Happy wall-ironing!<br />
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Hope to see you again soon--I'll be back blogging regularly again just as soon as I finish running the boys to school, cello lessons, gymnastics, reading academy, Bible camp, doctor's appointments, Dayschool, tennis lessons, reviewing their homework, practicing spelling lists, returning library books, editing the school yearbook, selling 800 cases of fundraiser chocolate, feeding the masses, working my REAL job, kissing on all the boys, training for my next half-marathon, taking my husband out on a date here and there, PTA meetings. . . .<br />
<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-77531297400267744052014-07-09T21:15:00.002-07:002014-07-09T21:15:42.459-07:00Pin 215: Watermelon SticksOriginal pin:<br />
<img alt="Watermelon sticks, perfect for little hands. A finger food perfect for picnics or potlucks #Watermelon, #KitchenTips, #Summer, #Food, #Clea..." height="320" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/8c/02/04/8c02041e834f7ee8884b8b8b24df9365.jpg" width="206" /><br />
<a href="http://athriftymom.com/watermelon-sticks-perfect-for-little-hands-kids-fingerfoods-picnic-diy/">http://athriftymom.com/watermelon-sticks-perfect-for-little-hands-kids-fingerfoods-picnic-diy/</a><br />
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My boys LOVE watermelon. We found a cute seedless one at the store that they begged for. I gave in. Today, when I was getting dinner ready, I decided to cut it up for them to snack on.<br />
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I started by cutting the melon in half. That part wasn't too hard. It was step two I was more worried about. I was certain I'd end up with quite a few odd sized pieces and waste a lot of the melon. </div>
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My first half was a bit rough. I was REALLY REALLY REALLY worried I was going to cut a finger off. I had my big serrated knife out and the watermelon was sliding around a little bit and I was trying to hold it all together for the cross cuts. While I did end up with sticks, they were fairly large. Fortunately, I did not end up with all the odd sized pieces I was afraid I'd have.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">About 16 sticks</td></tr>
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I called the boys in to test them out. They were so excited I could not get a good picture out of them. Here is the best one:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9ZpB34GVGcHwKqri83jq3QvB1HYSAWLoq9gH4zib4OhIj9NiOxLT07ROWagzUPmqeT6RvWk3dgn1XRBOpcUR5WdPqzxGVm9yao8JOEu5bYwJD1xR_H-vPvHXTQRZs6BsQcfjjxvhC68/s1600/IMG_4579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9ZpB34GVGcHwKqri83jq3QvB1HYSAWLoq9gH4zib4OhIj9NiOxLT07ROWagzUPmqeT6RvWk3dgn1XRBOpcUR5WdPqzxGVm9yao8JOEu5bYwJD1xR_H-vPvHXTQRZs6BsQcfjjxvhC68/s1600/IMG_4579.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">silly boys</td></tr>
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They loved the sticks instead of the wedges, or as L referred to them, "the smiles." They plowed through about three each before returning back to whatever it was they were doing before watermelon time. W actually ate most of his cookie-monster-style--shoving it in as fast as he could with juice dripping everywhere. They did a much better job of eating it down to the rind than they usually do with the wedges.<br />
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My second half turned out a little better as I made a more concentrated effort to make thinner cuts. I also turned the melon halfway, working from right to center, turn 180 degrees and work right to center again. Then do the same method for the cross cuts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtf0gpkJw-RVpn0L29lUyl1MnnnsXlfplr2Qmpe2IDlFG6e5LNvu_7NZ5XRTckC2k55nUVoeLK8sNOB5b7lTip2ZGdgyd6-dJTAX2wP5IbFj73l2F4kRretJgOGOgcwHfl4dDpPcCxXc/s1600/IMG_4580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtf0gpkJw-RVpn0L29lUyl1MnnnsXlfplr2Qmpe2IDlFG6e5LNvu_7NZ5XRTckC2k55nUVoeLK8sNOB5b7lTip2ZGdgyd6-dJTAX2wP5IbFj73l2F4kRretJgOGOgcwHfl4dDpPcCxXc/s1600/IMG_4580.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More than 24 sticks</td></tr>
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These packed up easily into a large storage container. Again, easier than wedges to pack them in tightly. And easy for the boys to grab one out on their own.<br />
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Cost: $3 for the watermelon<br />
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Time: 5 minutes<br />
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Final verdict: I may never cut a watermelon any other way again. This was easy to do, convenient, and the boys loved it. With practice I may even get good at it. It would probably be even easier to make straight, even cuts if you used an electric knife. Oh, and in case you were worried, I did not cut any fingers off.<br />
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<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-41383470729075149152014-07-08T21:57:00.001-07:002014-07-08T21:57:35.371-07:00Pin 214: Painting Tips (aka How to Paint While Caring for a Newborn)We've been in our house over eight years now and there are a few walls that are in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. One problem. . . I hate painting walls. When we were first married we owned a small home that was formerly my husbands bachelor pad. It was covered in blinding hi-gloss white paint on nearly every surface--walls, ceilings, cabinets. Pretty much only the carpet escaped the previous owner's paint sprayer. Before I moved in, we spent hours and hours painting everything in that house. After that, I swore I would never paint again. The first coat of paint that went up in our current house was done by someone we paid to do it.<br />
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Besides being eight years old, the paint has been at the mercy of two boys and has crayon, pencil, handprints, spaghetti sauce, and who knows what else smeared on many walls. The nice eggshell finish is not favorable to cleaning this mess off. Our lightswitches are a bit high, so under each switch is this long smear of boy, where they plant their hand and then jump to switch the light on.<br />
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Finally, finally, finally I got the motivation to start taking action on these walls. My motivating forces--I am having a baby shower for my sister next month and I just don't want one more round of guests to endure that mess on the walls. Secondly, I have a friend who LIKES to paint. Seriously, if it weren't for her I might have curled up and cried on the bathroom floor for a day or two before actually cracking open the paint can.<br />
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My husband and I discussed strategy on painting for a few days before starting. One of the worst parts of painting is the prep work--the taping, and drop cloths, and working around the mess of plastic sheeting. He was certain that we could do this without taping. I, however, was not so sure. But, again, thanks to my paint-loving friend, I forged ahead, sans tape, sans drop cloths.<br />
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So my friend and I knocked out the painting job in the boys bathroom in just a few hours--without drop cloths or tape, thankyouverymuch. How did we do it?? Well, first we were just really, really careful. If we smudged an edge it was immediately wiped off. We started out the edges cutting in with angled brushes. Then I remembered I had this edging tool out in the garage. I had tried it before on another painting job but remember it not working so well. I was feeling just brave enough to try it again this day.<br />
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Here it is:<br />
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So it is this little rectangle thingy with a handle and a couple of wheels on the top. The other side is this super soft pad. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwynXy1WbbiWXAHA5hLJI7nADfL7lGlhacPUe1bbWHifDDnOIPhCAjyu59q8XBnhFyFd-zFZXvUocovWOnXui717qGeK4C85Hp6FB44kBdWwEngaMWJefFNqVn6ot5akhzz8c9uHWxp2M/s1600/IMG_4533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwynXy1WbbiWXAHA5hLJI7nADfL7lGlhacPUe1bbWHifDDnOIPhCAjyu59q8XBnhFyFd-zFZXvUocovWOnXui717qGeK4C85Hp6FB44kBdWwEngaMWJefFNqVn6ot5akhzz8c9uHWxp2M/s1600/IMG_4533.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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I was careful not to overload it with paint and rolled the wheeled side along the edges of the ceilings, doors, baseboards, etc. It worked AMAZINGLY. Using this puppy saved us soooo much time. Apparently the trick I must have missed last time is that you can't get paint on the wheels or you get a big mess on the other side. You can see the old paint on the wheels in the first picture. You can get your own for just a few bucks by clicking <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001MQI9E/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0001MQI9E&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20&linkId=5WRCOQ62VLF6RNSK%22%3EShur-Line%20500%20Premium%20Paint%20Edger%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0001MQI9E%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">here</a>. It was so easy that when my helper had to leave, I was motivated enough to tackle the hallway all by myself. With the baby home. And this is where the pin comes in. . . well, sort of. <br />
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I know I had this pinned somewhere but I can't find it now. It was probably under one of those pins with about 8,000 tips to make my life easier--can't get enough of those (who doesn't need an easier life???) Or maybe it was one of those mysterious pins that gets deleted by Pinterest due to some sort of copyright infringement. . .<br />
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Original pin:<br />
No image available, since I can't even find the original pin, but the idea behind the pin was that when you are painting, you can put your brush and paint tray in plastic bags to keep them from drying out while you take a break.<br />
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The hallway I was about to attack has high ceilings and seven doorways to cut around. No fear here with my edging tool! But, again, I was home alone with my baby who needed to eat frequently, bathe, and be lovingly snuggled back to sleep.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtiiaef2WQlQveDjiOy5GN2EDhyphenhypheno0rdMrG4ElZV3_DAPTTMCH4jOrBSnGfftI7aOSRk2BiKsMNf-kJGK0AmsJBFg1G4yfFFuo45t7NduWdw21YhqZvghR1MRqye4KtoakOTSr-lIgk7jM/s1600/IMG_4527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtiiaef2WQlQveDjiOy5GN2EDhyphenhypheno0rdMrG4ElZV3_DAPTTMCH4jOrBSnGfftI7aOSRk2BiKsMNf-kJGK0AmsJBFg1G4yfFFuo45t7NduWdw21YhqZvghR1MRqye4KtoakOTSr-lIgk7jM/s1600/IMG_4527.JPG" height="320" width="176" /></a></div>
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I worked in between these tasks and when I needed to stop I simply stashed my brush or edger or roller in a grocery sack to keep it wet.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTH68ZBjd-r4mS_SpItsDt91S9pHo7KGB6EyQZ2riawocaDPv-sE9ROK-FmxaI0vtKJ7NzvYMc5aCjFy08WdVexXx4PBrx_YyrSNHDDSL0bK6JKT7l9-qcFez36PU_g3y0C1y4Db-nSVA/s1600/IMG_4525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTH68ZBjd-r4mS_SpItsDt91S9pHo7KGB6EyQZ2riawocaDPv-sE9ROK-FmxaI0vtKJ7NzvYMc5aCjFy08WdVexXx4PBrx_YyrSNHDDSL0bK6JKT7l9-qcFez36PU_g3y0C1y4Db-nSVA/s1600/IMG_4525.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My paint tray double bagged</td></tr>
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<br />It worked well all evening. I bagged all my different tools as I switched between the brush, the edger, and the roller. Unfortunately, I didn't have time/energy to finish the whole hallway that first night. I decided to take a gamble on that pin and see if the trick would work through the night. I only had a little paint left in the tray but I bagged the tray and the roller up for the night just to see how long I could push it. <div>
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The next day when I was ready to paint again I pulled everything out and did a little finger test:</div>
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<br />While the roller was mostly dry, the paint in the tray was perfect. I had another roller brush so I popped it on and went back to work. I finished the hallway in a few hours and am sooo happy to have it all done.<br />
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Total cost: $0 for the plastic bags<br />
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Total time: Mere seconds in the midst of a big painting job. Overall I probably spent 6-7 hours painting the bathroom and hallway, but saved so much time by not painting or dragging around drop cloths--not to mention having the big kids traipse around the dropcloths!<br />
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Final verdict: Fabulous. I could never have done it with the kids around if I hadn't been able to stop frequently to tend to baby and big kid needs. I would totally use this again. For overnight storage, I would wrap the roller in its own bag to prevent drying out, I had just left it propped on the tray. Now I'm motivated to keep painting the rest of the house, although I need my friend to come back for the living room. The ceilings in there are way too high and intimidating. </div>
lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-70265240236824106502014-07-01T22:28:00.001-07:002014-07-01T22:32:09.979-07:00Pin 213: How to Cut GrapesThis video has been all over my facebook feed this week. I decided to try it out during lunch for the boys one day.<br />
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Original pin:<br />
<img alt="Genious! How to: cut a bunch of grapes in half in less than 10 seconds." src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/55/73/a5/5573a57fff7cdb6f63a15b880a320eca.jpg" height="320" width="200" /><br />
<a href="http://www.scarymommy.com/cut-grapes-in-half/">http://www.scarymommy.com/cut-grapes-in-half/</a> (check out the video at this link)<br />
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According to these folks, I've been cutting grapes all wrong. I didn't really know there was another way! The idea seems simple enough--sandwich a handful of grapes between a pair of plates and slice away.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu1GLxrXGsQZvQrVawViyk9evi7gdNzbXrr3TfoKL2J5V98HQu_kKcVoyz4DLeMMOG1dBzfo38strcdx6K7Aco3IpNylZFjfDtc3q0-Jr7VDSRZ8e0nQVpd0KEzgq0pKbBo0262Lnro9I/s1600/IMG_4536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu1GLxrXGsQZvQrVawViyk9evi7gdNzbXrr3TfoKL2J5V98HQu_kKcVoyz4DLeMMOG1dBzfo38strcdx6K7Aco3IpNylZFjfDtc3q0-Jr7VDSRZ8e0nQVpd0KEzgq0pKbBo0262Lnro9I/s1600/IMG_4536.JPG" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
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I grabbed me a plate of grapes . . .</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6hK6irAa6Wm2rO2fJJtXPFpABv4FmoSd_BRoQrhDtd3r_ivz-MbEHj-_jRLL9R8WeDtdYRFfsJlbWApi59ksQkZwLbJVPvNJLs3YAuFylhyu7XiiHfYfuC5V8YKphc7XbpSY8-0-t88/s1600/IMG_4540.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6hK6irAa6Wm2rO2fJJtXPFpABv4FmoSd_BRoQrhDtd3r_ivz-MbEHj-_jRLL9R8WeDtdYRFfsJlbWApi59ksQkZwLbJVPvNJLs3YAuFylhyu7XiiHfYfuC5V8YKphc7XbpSY8-0-t88/s1600/IMG_4540.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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. . . sandwiched them in there real nice. . . </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuivfgoBL6zRGd3UYWJ9arBZ4BcRMGjkU5j7VHfdS1wGpmx6MnHWb4PRJbwDTXpryXA0nNf7XvZHFGf8fNvJ1QsFoqorSqMJPxlfaQXDbYGZUCS4yZNiVisBBEIF_vDGSPv_8I4FVvQPk/s1600/IMG_4541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuivfgoBL6zRGd3UYWJ9arBZ4BcRMGjkU5j7VHfdS1wGpmx6MnHWb4PRJbwDTXpryXA0nNf7XvZHFGf8fNvJ1QsFoqorSqMJPxlfaQXDbYGZUCS4yZNiVisBBEIF_vDGSPv_8I4FVvQPk/s1600/IMG_4541.JPG" height="320" width="298" /></a></div>
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and sliced away with my longest serrated bread knife. </div>
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While I was doing this, my eldest looked at me all wild-eyed and said, "ummmm. . . WHAT are you DOING?!?!?!" Mr. Type A can't handle change well. Apparently this is not an appropriate way to cut grapes. </div>
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I was all ready to awe him with this new trick and I whisked the top plate away to reveal . . . </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1FA1srAtY5hr8DH9NIWqVIbZmmDVfmq5NSZcBreUPSNwqeUIFuaeN5otBfBgdj56VcTB52QJ0jpqtwzLJOX3_-b3oZ2ofyhFHhyO-k8bZkZ0WCutb_LAqt6KsWtsUsvmNNv6VBq1J5A/s1600/IMG_4543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1FA1srAtY5hr8DH9NIWqVIbZmmDVfmq5NSZcBreUPSNwqeUIFuaeN5otBfBgdj56VcTB52QJ0jpqtwzLJOX3_-b3oZ2ofyhFHhyO-k8bZkZ0WCutb_LAqt6KsWtsUsvmNNv6VBq1J5A/s1600/IMG_4543.JPG" height="313" width="400" /></a></div>
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this. This plate of half untouched grapes and the other half randomly sliced. Most no where nearly in half. Quite a few I had just barely skimmed off their tops. Never one to be discouraged, I decided that the problem must be that I have too much lip to my plate and it prevented the knife from going through the centers. So I dug out my flattest plates and a plucked a new batch of grapes and tried again. </div>
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This time at least all the grapes had some sort of damage to them. They worked just fine for our fruit salad. </div>
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Total cost: $0</div>
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Total time: 5 minutes, mostly because I had to trouble shoot the first time and start over. </div>
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Final verdict: I definitely think you need to use the flattest plates you have. My grapes in round one were sitting much too low inside the rim of the plate to be reached in the middle by the knife. While round two's grapes weren't perfect, with practice I could probably make that work. Will I use this trick again or just stick with the old way? The future is unclear right now. Since it didn't save me any time this day and it is a skill I'm going to have to hone, I may just stick to the old way (you know, not really cutting them and just practicing my Heimlich skills. I kid. . . well, sort of. I cut them when I send them to school, okay??) Kudos to the people who do this well. </div>
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<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-76281213068171996612014-05-23T18:43:00.000-07:002014-05-23T18:43:28.489-07:00I have a secret. . . It has been nine months since my last post, and even before then it was getting a little erratic. I can explain it. . .<br />
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I was nauseous. And tired. And huge.<br />
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Pinspiration was something I did in the time after my kids went to bed. Now all I wanted to do after my kids went to bed was eat a bowl of Bluebell as big as my head and pass out in the recliner as quickly as possible. So I did.<br />
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But, come St. Patrick's Day, I was done with all that business.<br />
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After almost 41 weeks on team green, we welcomed our third beautiful, bouncing, (BIG) baby boy. I spent all of 20 minutes in labor to deliver him. Twenty painful, unmedicated, hard minutes in labor to deliver this 10 lb 2 oz miracle. He broke his collar bone and I broke my tailbone in the process.<br />
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We are both healing up now and I have been thinking about Pinspiration a lot lately--not that I really have ANY time to do some pins, but just that I miss it and I miss y'all. So I wanted to stop in and say hi and thank you to the people out there who have sent me sweet messages telling me they miss the blog. I do too!!<br />
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I'm going to do my best to get back to it this summer, although there will definitely NOT be five pins a week at this point. I do have some baby lessons to share. Funny, its my third AND I am a professional baby carer (NICU Nurse) and I am still learning new tips and tricks with this one.<br />
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One of my friends once told me something about her third child that really stuck with me. She said that the third time around, she finally threw out everyone's advice and did everything the way SHE wanted to do it, from pregnancy, to labor, to newborn care, and it was the best thing she ever did. I chose to do that too, but that's for another post because I have a lot to say about that!<br />
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Thanks for sticking with me through this. Love and miss! xoxo lizzylizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-51979146017912135152013-08-26T07:14:00.002-07:002013-08-26T07:14:52.948-07:00Pin 212: Crunchers (aka Scottish Chocolate Caramel Bars)Original pin:<br />
<img alt="Crunchers - A Swirl of chocolate, brown sugar, peanut butter, butterscotch and crackers" src="http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/736x/1a/14/4d/1a144d65926be341e09a23a3a54c6b2d.jpg" /><br />
<a href="http://www.twirlandtaste.com/2011/01/crunchers-addictive-chocolate-brown.html">http://www.twirlandtaste.com/2011/01/crunchers-addictive-chocolate-brown.html</a><br />
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In July, (yes, I am way behind around here) I needed a dessert to take to our family reunion. I don't make a ton of sweets but my sweets board on Pinterest is full of delicious-looking things. I used the occasion to try something out. I pulled up this recipe for "crunchers." Club crackers layered with a caramel-y filling and topped with a butterscotch/chocolate layer. Yumm.<br />
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While this dessert definitely does NOT fall into my just-whip-together-something-amazing-as-you-glide-out-the-door category, it was not difficult. Just time consuming, and as far as Mr. Pinterest is concerned, uses far too many pots and pans to pull together.<br />
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I started with layering the crackers but I couldn't fit as many in the dish as the recipe said I should, so I switched to a larger dish. I could almost squeeze the right amount into this dish but my final dessert was not as thick as the original posters. When it came time for topping, I was certain the called for amount would not cover my dessert completely so I just added a few extra handfuls of chocolate chips and butterscotch and then ended up with a nice thick chocolaty layer.<br />
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All chilled and out of the fridge ready for cutting:<br />
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I popped it out of the dish and off the foil--surprisingly easy and smooth. Time to cut into bars. I wasn't sure what to expect while cutting--if it was going to be difficult or not, but it was really easy to cut.<br />
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So my layers are not perfect, my chocolate is pretty thick, but the bars themselves were pretty darn tasty. Not exactly what I expected, but a nice little combo of salty and sweet. I packed the bars up and took them to the family reunion. One of our cousins took one taste and declared them exactly like this dessert they fell in love with on a trip to Scotland. I guess that gives me "International Chef" status.<br />
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Total cost: umm. I forgot. It was July. Sorry folks.<br />
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Total time: Thirty minutes plus chill time.<br />
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Final verdict: They were easy enough and tasty enough that I will probably make them again, but I might wait for a special occasion--maybe Christmas parties or the next family reunion. I might also stick with a smaller dish and less crackers to have a thicker bar like in the original photo.<br />
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<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-9348671980735326942013-08-06T20:00:00.001-07:002013-08-06T20:00:41.654-07:00Pin 211: Homemade Ice Cream in a BaggieOriginal pin:<br />
<img alt="How to Make Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag by familyfun #Ice_Cream_in_a_Bag #KIds #familyfun" height="320" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/70/92/e9/7092e9f81ed42890417b3669a1a48fd7.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<a href="http://myroyalkitchen.com/2011/12/homemade-icecream-in-a-baggie/">http://myroyalkitchen.com/2011/12/homemade-icecream-in-a-baggie/</a><br />
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The boys and I decided we were ready to take on this challenge today--homemade ice cream in 5 minutes using plastic baggies. Seems a perfect summer activity for kids. I had some 1/2 & 1/2 leftover from a soup recipe last week so the only thing I had to buy was rock salt. Fabulously for me, the rock salt was on sale at the grocery today!<br />
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After dinner tonight we decided to whip these up. Things did NOT go as smoothly as I had planned. The basic idea is that you put the ice cream ingredients in a small baggie. Then the small baggie goes inside the larger baggie with ice and salt. Shake a few minutes and, voila! you have ice cream. First problem was when I turned my back for one minute, little bit decided to shake his bag upside down. You can probably guess that ice and rock salt when absolutely everywhere. Refilled his and when I grabbed my camera to get an action shot, we found problem number two. (Thus no action shots.) The ice baggie was getting torn and leaking. Quick fix--double bag the ice bag. Back to work when almost immediately, the ice cream baggie was ripped and leaking into the ice!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">milky, icy, salty mess</td></tr>
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Double bagged the ice cream bag and changed strategies. I sat the boys down in chairs, wrapped the double bagged double bags in a towel and we went for more of an agitation/massage motion than shaking to avoid any more trauma to our baggies.<br />
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This strategy did not result in any more tears, no leaking, and we actually did end up with some ice cream eventually. It took longer than five minutes and my kids didn't have the arm strength/endurance to do this alone. I took turns with them agitating there bags. Maybe about 10 minutes after we had fixed all our problems and changed our strategies we decided our ice cream was solid enough to sample.<br />
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It probably could have gone an additional few minutes, but it was pretty ice-cream like. The taste was really good--much better than I anticipated. The boys dressed theirs up with sprinkles and I just kept thinking of the delicious candy mix-ins I didn't have. We made two batches per the recipe. It easily made four servings (two servings per baggie).<br />
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Total cost: $2.49 for rock salt<br />
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Total time: It took us 25 minutes to solve all our problems and end up with a mostly frozen ice cream. Next time I predict it will be more like 15 minutes.<br />
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Final verdict: We will make this again. One of my favorite soups calls for a small amount of half-and-half and the remainder always goes bad in the fridge. This is a perfect solution to using up that left over bit. My recommendations (and plan for next time) double bag from the beginning. Double bag the mixture and double bag the ice. Also, I will stick with the agitation/massage action. It worked and just took a bit longer. The kids were really bummed they didn't get to eat their ice cream out of the bag like the kids in the picture.<br />
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<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-3486043613868948562013-07-17T20:49:00.002-07:002013-07-17T20:49:40.761-07:00Fun Free Music! (Legally!)This one isn't a pin, but a super fun tip I wanted to share with you. A couple of months ago I discovered this web service that allows you to download three songs a week, free of charge, that are mp3 format and compatible with iTunes, any mp3 player, android, mac & windows. New stuff, old stuff, all genres. I just downloaded two singles off the new John Mayer album that isn't even released yet. Even iTunes only has one of the songs available. I know you must be thinking by now that there must be some kind of catch, some charge or subscription hook. . . .<br />
<br />
I'll be honest. You are right.<br />
<br />But the fabulous part is, the only membership you need is to your library--which is free!!<br />
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If you want to check out the website, it is <a href="https://www.freegalmusic.com/users/idlogin">https://www.freegalmusic.com/users/idlogin</a> but just going to that link won't get you in. You've got to enter through your library's website link. So check out your library website's page and search for Freegal Music. If you are local to me, go to the city library's page-->HPL online-->digital downloads and scroll to the middle of the page and you will find the link there.<br />
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Part two of the fabulousness: You get three downloads for EACH library card, which means, if your kids have their own cards, you can download three songs for you and three songs for them.<br />
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Here is what I've downloaded so far, and not spent a single penny:<br />
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(In no particular order, well, maybe alphabetically. . . )<br />
1. Adele--Skyfall<br />
2. Alicia Keys--Girl on Fire<br />
3. Britney Spears--Ooh La La<br />
4. Cheap Trick--I Want You to Want Me<br />
5. Foster the People--Pumped Up Kicks<br />
6. Harlem Freaks--Harlem Shake<br />
7. John Mayer--Paperdolls<br />
8. John Mayer--Wildfire<br />
9. Justin Timberlake--Mirrors<br />
10. Justin Timberlake--Rock Your Body<br />
11. Justin Timberlake--Senorita<br />
12. Justin Timberlake--Suit and Tie<br />
13. Ke$ha--Die Young<br />
14. Ke$ha--Die Young (Deconstructed version)<br />
15. Ke$ha--Crazy Kids Remix<br />
16. Ke$ha--Dirty Love<br />
17. Little Mix--Wings<br />
18. Miranda Lambert--Easy Living<br />
19. Miranda Lambert--Mama's Broken Heart<br />
20. Miranda Lambert--Me and Charlie Talking<br />
21. Miranda Lambert--Over You<br />
22. Miranda Lambert--White Liar<br />
23. Miley Cyrus--We Can't Stop<br />
24. The Vaccines--Wreckin' Bar<br />
25. The Vaccines--Teenage Icon<br />
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That is a deal! Just wanted to share it with my friends so you can start browsing the selection! And if your library doesn't have a subscription, maybe you can ask them about getting one.lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-47098101478507145642013-07-17T07:45:00.000-07:002013-07-17T07:45:05.046-07:00Pin 210: McCormick's Meatloaf Copycat RecipeOriginal pin:<br />
<img alt="Mum in Bloom ~: From Scratch: McCormick's Meatloaf Seasoning" src="http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/736x/18/30/16/183016daacfd7873047124e65ccd9c5c.jpg" /><br />
<a href="http://muminbloom.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-scratch-mccormicks-meatloaf.html">http://muminbloom.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-scratch-mccormicks-meatloaf.html</a><br />
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Last night was meatloaf night around here. I had intended to pick up a spice packet at the store but yesterday was a little crazy and I forgot. Pinterest to the rescue. I just did a quick search and this was the first one to pop up. It claims to be the McCormick's recipe. I had all the ingredients on hand so I decided to give it a try.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My copycat picture of the ingredients. Her counter and backsplash are strikingly similar to mine as well. . . </td></tr>
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The final mix is a little more than I expected and I wasn't sure if this was for one meatloaf or intended to use for multiple. In the comments of the original post I found that it is for one so I dumped the whole thing in.<br />
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I mixed everything else in and the herbs were already starting to smell good. Just needed to add my extra ingredient that goes in all my cooking:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">not ketchup. . . love.</td></tr>
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My ketchup writing skills are a little sub-par. One hour later, and smelling delicious, the meatloaf was done and out of the oven. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />The meatloaf had a great flavor, although I'm not sure it was exactly McCormicks. It was a touch on the dry side so next time I might add just a bit more milk. I made it with extra lean ground beef so that may have caused the dryness. A little ketchup on top fixed that right up. My husband took one bite and said, "Is this a new recipe?" He liked it but he, too, noticed it wasn't quite the same thing.<br />
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Total cost: $0<br />
<br />Total time: 5 minutes<br />
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Final verdict: We really did like the flavor in this meatloaf. I didn't have to go out of my way to locate any random ingredients. It came together in seconds. We really did like the flavor better than the original. Next time I may make this in bulk so I can just measure up what I need. I will definitely make this again, and either use a less lean meat or add a bit more milk to keep it moist. </div>
lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-27498974467854809962013-07-12T20:28:00.000-07:002013-07-12T20:28:53.750-07:00Pin 209: Shredded Chicken in the Stand MixerOriginal pin:<br />
???<br />
I really thought I HAD pinned this but after using the pin search and conducting my own, apparently I didn't pin it. I must have just read it somewhere and let my vise-like memory retain it for future use. I searched it on Pinterest and there is a ton of different sources so I can't attribute this to one original.<br />
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Anyhoo. . .<br />
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One of my absolute favorite slow cooker meals is lime-chicken tacos. Incredibly easy, versatile, and the leftovers freeze amazingly well. The most time consuming part of the whole process is shredding the chicken after it is cooked. I usually use the old two-fork method and spend a good ten minutes or so shredding each piece up individually.<br />
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When I recently made this dish, I really did have to weigh the benefits of trying this one out. You may remember Mr. Pinspiration's deep dislike of dish work and I think he secretly believes that I intentionally use more dishes in meal preparation than necessary. He especially hates those "hand-wash only" items, such as my stand mixer bowl and accessories. Pulling this out really had to be worth it if I was going to suffer the sighs and grunts of Mr. Pinspiration at dish time. I figured I could try it once.<br />
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I placed my warm, super tender, cooked chicken breasts into the mixing bowl. They were starting to fall apart already!<br />
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Locked and ready, I turned the mixer on to watch the magic. </div>
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Holy stand mixer, Batman!! The entire bowl was perfectly shredded in approximately 3 seconds!!</div>
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Back into the slow-cooker for the final preparations and then my meal was ready to eat. Just load it into some warm tortillas and dinner was served!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEpDxpJwfWWmT1gKLwE8zTvHaiqvIcVsIb4uw1qJ8n9XKXUX8e-8nKfu16aqcqhKvmgAj3T14Kgqm3aCld_AnRueL_K7iIR5BKoaYjaoknFFk7FwEZCk0csIFFgo9AcSh7gvDd4sgamQ/s1600/IMG_2469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEpDxpJwfWWmT1gKLwE8zTvHaiqvIcVsIb4uw1qJ8n9XKXUX8e-8nKfu16aqcqhKvmgAj3T14Kgqm3aCld_AnRueL_K7iIR5BKoaYjaoknFFk7FwEZCk0csIFFgo9AcSh7gvDd4sgamQ/s320/IMG_2469.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Total cost: $0<br />
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Total time: 1 min (It took a few seconds to put the chicken in the bowl, carry the bowl to the other side of the kitchen. . . )<br />
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Final verdict: I could not be more amazed at how quickly it all happened. I couldn't even get any in-action shots before it was done! And the shredding was much more uniform than my old fork-on-fork method. Was it worth the extra dishes to wash?? Absolutely! I will NEVER hand shred meat again! I can wash and put away the mixer in less time than I was hand shredding the chicken previously.lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-68652524776671557672013-07-11T21:31:00.000-07:002013-07-11T21:32:50.830-07:00Pin 208: Slow-cooker Beef StroganoffOh hello there!<br />
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It has been a while since we've seen each other.<br />
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First, I was studying really, really hard to finally take that test I had been putting off. Day of the test, I had to drive across town in the summer's only rainstorm--which happened to be a road-flooding-highway-closing-near-hurricane-torrential downpour. A great load of stress to start off the morning with. After almost two hours of testing I left with this:<br />
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My stomach was in so many knots. Then the drive home, while sunny and dry-ish, wasn't any better due to a jack-knifed semi closing the entire freeway. But I can breathe easy now because that is all in the past and I have added an extra pin to my pin collection.<br />
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By this time, our summer was in full swing and I was shuttling kids from swimming lessons to playdates to gymnastics to fairy class to library reading club to drawing class to ballet. . . .<br />
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Next up was a full week of VBS for me and the kids at church while still making as many lessons and playdates and everything else we had committed to. I needed a break so we headed out here for some relaxation:<br />
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Back at home, and mostly recharged, it is back to playdates and lessons and clubs and all the fun stuff of summer. But no more studying!!! WooHoo!!<br />
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So to catch up on a pin I did back before all this test nonsense. . .<br />
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Back during the forbidden foods week<br />
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I tried this slow-cooker beef stroganoff dish.<br />
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Original pin:<br />
<img height="240" src="http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/736x/5f/0d/3d/5f0d3de773987cb57316f5b60045af0e.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<a href="http://www.heathersbytes.com/beef-stroganoff/">http://www.heathersbytes.com/beef-stroganoff/</a><br />
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It was super simple to toss it all together and it smelled delicious cooking. My only complaint was that when I added the sour cream to the hot dish it curdled and left little dots of sour cream curdles throughout. It didn't affect the taste and the curdles weren't large enough to affect the texture.<br />
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But I would NEVER be able to sneak this dish past "anyone" with sour cream curdles in the mix. As for taste, the kids and I thought it was yummy. Not unlike a meatballs and noodles with brown gravy I make sans sour cream on a regular basis around here. That eating child will just fall all over himself for any dish with pasta or gravy as a component. My non-eater has actually been a quite impressive eater the last few months and has been upgraded from "non-eating child" to "meat-eating child" as that is his favorite food group. He will eat pretty much any kind of meat and if you put something else close enough (or under) he might accidentally eat that too. As you may guess, he ate most of the meat out of this dish and a few noodles.<br />
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Total cost: Around $10 for a full slow cooker of this dish. It made at least six adult sized servings, if not more. The littles and I couldn't finish all the leftovers and ended up tossing some later in the week.<br />
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Total time: 10 minutes hands-on plus cooking time<br />
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Final verdict: It has a nice flavor and you can't beat the easiness of it. Because of the sour cream it will never be a regular around here. We didn't love it enough to try to sneak it past daddy and we probably won't make it again.lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-82104437251942232072013-05-22T14:23:00.002-07:002013-05-22T14:23:50.133-07:00Pin 207: White Chicken EnchiladasOriginal pin:<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Hlg2hcwsvbf6pivVf9krNzb5bRU5EC3o8c5aCtSM-L7OiAit2LhbcOwxQ5nverHqkTg3q9F-l134TQeObPhJjYbGBWmCG9p_J_P3kOeHEdDCZx5t4U7wNTTv8GhkJPsCHN6vzuveETE/s320/photo-704922.JPG" /><br />
<a href="http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-chicken-enchiladas.html">http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-chicken-enchiladas.html</a><br />
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I pinned this recipe for the Pinterest described "BEST enchilada recipe ever!!" over one year ago. I love me some enchiladas and some Tex-Mex so just the thought of these made me drool. Why, then, did it take me so long to make them?? I'll tell you why.<br />
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Mr. Pinspiration has a food issue. He absolutely refuses to eat anything in the "creamy" category, specifically if it is white (think yogurt, mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese)--unless it is dessert (i.e., frozen yogurt, ice cream, frosting, pudding, etc.), soup, or gravy. Mr. Pinspiration went on a little trip a few days ago so I went to the store and stocked up with plans to make a few of my favorite recipes with said ingredients.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is cream cheese hiding behind there too.</td></tr>
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Do you know anyone with any of this sort of affliction?? Apparently they are out there. I have met one other person who excludes this category of food based strictly on appearance. IMPORTANT note to my sweet, loyal, dedicated readers: If I have ever served my husband a recipe with one of these said ingredients--DON'T CLUE HIM IN!!! He probably loved it and it could be the end of Pinspiration! Or the end of me! Its like pushing the self destruct button on the whole ship!<br />
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Not that I would ever try to sneak something in. Just in case I overlooked it in the ingredients. (And I do make substitutions sometimes.)<br />
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Back to enchilada talk. I used canned chicken to pull this together and it was ridiculously easy. Baked it up until it was bubbly and browning and served it up to two hungry boys.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh from the oven.</td></tr>
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It was indulgently yummy. I say indulgent because it really does not have a ton of nutritional value to it so it needs to be served alongside some nutrition rich foods. I served the boys some vegetable heavy Tex-Mex rice and a salad. How can you really go wrong with this much cheese? The boys loved it. They both ate their entire serving (even non-eating child.) Non-eater has actually been saying for days how much he loves enchiladas. I didn't have quite enough filling for the full ten tortillas the recipe called for, but I think I filled eight. There was more than enough sauce to spoon some over the top of the enchiladas after plating. <div>
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Total cost: Around $6</div>
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Total time: Pulled together in 15 minutes plus baking time.</div>
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Final verdict: They won us over, but we won't be putting these in the regular rotation--mostly due to the forbidden ingredients. They were good, but a bit on the bland side. Perhaps that is because I used canned chicken. Maybe if I prepared the chicken with some Tex-Mex flair or stirred in some seasonings to the filling. They were a tad indulgent for me but were a delicious treat and am not letting the leftovers spoil! </div>
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lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-27187057137908629792013-05-21T07:26:00.000-07:002013-05-21T07:26:22.216-07:00Pin 206: Whipped Body ButterBefore we get down to business I have a very important announcement for you! For months now, I have been talking about this certification test I am supposed to be preparing to take for work. This extensive studying (cough! cough!) has been keeping me from pinning as much as I would like. Well, my friends, I have booked a date to get this test over with!! Mid-June this nonsense will be over and I can get back to my pinning and blogging more regularly. WooHoo!!<br />
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Now on to business. . . <br />
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Original pin:<br />
<img src="http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/736x/d1/fc/03/d1fc03350f0a5d6b4807473d1bf22267.jpg" /><br />
<a href="http://www.livingthenourishedlife.com/2012/02/homemade-whipped-coconut-oil-body">http://www.livingthenourishedlife.com/2012/02/homemade-whipped-coconut-oil-body</a><br />
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Whipped coconut body butter. Coconut oil seems to be the hottest ingredient lately. I see it in everything! I actually have four coconut body butter recipes pinned. I wanted to make some of this because I keep hearing about all the wonderful things it can do for your skin so I closed my eyes and just picked one of the pins. I ended up over at the Living the Nourished Life blog which has a super simple recipe. I had some coconut oil in the pantry but I wanted to give some of this as teacher gifts as well so I sent Mr. Pinspiration out to the market to pick up some more.<br />
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When I started this I noticed two different consistencies with my coconut oil. (I am going to stop here for a minute to clarify something--I am NOT a coconut oil expert. The extent of my coconut oil knowledge is as follows: Coconut oil comes from coconuts. When it is solid it can be very hard. Coconut oil has many different uses. The end.) Not sure if this was due to my different brands, one being fresher, or something totally unrelated.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The one on the left was my new jar, the right was the jar I already had.</td></tr>
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The old jar was hardened and a little separated (as I expected) but the new one was so velvety soft and coconutty looking I almost wanted to put a spoonful in my mouth! It looked like the inside of some wonderful coconut dessert!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extreme close up!!! See the difference in the textures?? The left was the new jar and the right I dug out of the older jar after chopping up the hardened part and stirring back with the oily part. </td></tr>
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I started with the more delicious looking fresher jar. I set my stand mixer to work and danced around singing the "Whip It" song because I couldn't resist.<br />
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My singing must have sent off some bad vibes because my body butter was looking nothing like I expected.<br />
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It was totally liquefied. I figured this had something to do with being here in sunny Fort Worth and in my comfy 78 degree house. (I can't afford to keep it any cooler here in Texas so my body has adjusted to this 78 degrees and I now find it perfectly comfortable. Except for in the winter when my husband insists we keep it more like a chilly 68. Brrrr. I am a Texas girl and the heat doesn't bother me.)<br />
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I poured this in a small jar and popped it into the fridge. Next I whipped up some from the older jar with similar results. I even packed ice packs around the bowl to keep it chilled while it whipped. Into a jar and into the fridge it went. Before I whipped the third, and last, batch, I chilled the coconut oil itself, just to see if I could get any different results. The chilled coconut oil initially whipped up like it was going to get that fluffy appearance as in the original pin, but even packed in ice, started to melt quite a bit after two minutes.<br />
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Just as an experiment, I re-whipped one of the original jars after it had chilled. Still not airy and fluffy, but it didn't quite liquefy as much.<br />
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After much experimentation, I ended up with three jars of similar consistency. I tried fragrance with one of the batches, but the coconut scent was delicious and I didn't feel the need to overpower it with a different smell so I didn't add it to subsequent batches. Refrigerated, the mixture hardened to a consistency that was like cold real butter--hard but manageable.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A freshly chilled jar</td></tr>
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Once allowed to reach room temperature, the body butter is very soft with a consistent texture. I haven't had any separation of ingredients or re-hardening of the oil. It isn't the fluffy, airy texture I expected, but it isn't unpleasant either. It melts really fast in my hand so I have to move quickly transferring it to wherever it is headed. There are tiny bits of coconut oil that I can feel when I smooth it over my skin, but they melt quickly. I compare it to those little beads that are sometimes in face wash that dissolve quickly.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two of these jars were for gifts, so I stamped up the tops to get them ready for the teachers. </div>
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I wrapped them up in a 16x16 square of fabric with a little note and a quick bow and they were ready to gift! </div>
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Total cost: I can't say, because these were gifts. I used about 1/2 jar of coconut oil for each jar and made three jars. </div>
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Total time: After much experimentation, I would estimate you could make this in 10 minutes. I spent about 1 & 1/2 hours playing around. </div>
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Final verdict: It is very indulgent to use! I love this and will be using it frequently. I hope the teachers liked it as much as I do. The recipe was surprisingly simple and uncomplicated. If your house is cooler than mine, you can probably achieve a less melt-y texture than I did. I have been keeping it in my bathroom and the consistency has stayed the same as it was originally in the butter rewarmed to room temperature. In the summer, it may be more enjoyable to have the butter chilled to apply. This pin was a winner for me, but next time I just may have to try out some of those other recipes. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0dHCQug067o/UZtyscVXdsI/AAAAAAAAE_o/fLNXNHAhMXs/s1600/IMG_2188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0dHCQug067o/UZtyscVXdsI/AAAAAAAAE_o/fLNXNHAhMXs/s320/IMG_2188.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-69527595906685542202013-05-13T06:39:00.000-07:002013-05-13T14:00:44.159-07:00Pin 204 & Pin 205: Wristlet Key Chain with Hand-stamped CharmOriginal pin:<br />
<img height="320" src="http://prudentbaby.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/IMG_91541.jpg" width="213" /><br />
<a href="http://prudentbaby.com/2010/11/hot-mess/accessories-hot-mess/how-to-make-a-wristlet-key-fob-2/">http://prudentbaby.com/2010/11/hot-mess/accessories-hot-mess/how-to-make-a-wristlet-key-fob-2/</a><br />
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A wristlet keychain tutorial from the ladies over at Prudent Baby.<br />
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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was putting last minute details together on Teacher Appreciation week. Like last year, I was in charge of putting together gifts for the whole preschool. Since I am on a super tight budget, I am always looking for inexpensive gifts to make for the teachers. Since I have to put together so many, they have to be quick and inexpensive. These keychains seemed to be perfect. I also was able to tie the whole luncheon theme together with the keychains. As I am sure many schools experienced this year, our preschool was entirely rekeyed with strict implementation of renewed security measures. All the teachers are having to carry their keys everywhere. We made keys the theme of our lunch.<br />
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I found a super deal on the webbing and picked up some matching ribbon. I had to order the key fob sets from Amazon because I could not find them anywhere locally. Click the picture to see the kit I am referring to:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WXN3EM/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003WXN3EM&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B003WXN3EM&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003WXN3EM" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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I used the one inch width.<br />
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I brought all these supplies along on my girl's crafting weekend last weekend and went to work.<br />
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I actually skipped the step on fusing the ribbon to the webbing. I was feeling a little lazy. Instead I just held it in place and sewed along. Not much later I had this big pile of ribbons and webbing.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wV3CzIIOWL4/UYWkTQOElBI/AAAAAAAAE1Q/jAwjUz3TWVo/s1600/IMG_2096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wV3CzIIOWL4/UYWkTQOElBI/AAAAAAAAE1Q/jAwjUz3TWVo/s400/IMG_2096.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Time to start trimming!<br />
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I discovered a severe miscalculation at this moment. I needed 21 keychains and had somehow purchased and sewn enough ribbon and webbing to make nearly 80!! I only had hardware for 25 at my retreat so I packed the excess up. Guess I'll be giving a lot of keychain gifts in the near future!! I clamped up the 25 sets I did have and went to work on step two of my project.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-26l6PHIR4p4/UYWkY0o9soI/AAAAAAAAE2w/tjEZchnPZB4/s1600/IMG_2100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-26l6PHIR4p4/UYWkY0o9soI/AAAAAAAAE2w/tjEZchnPZB4/s320/IMG_2100.JPG" width="177" /></a></div>
Original pin:<br />
<img height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QLuLxqIWoyT19q2wcpzv0L4NsFzYb7sscUSHIabdPG9JPWE7tGV_XBcJBw9ylyjERjyEjabDPoYPauoJ-Qi27YWAjq6pE2f6-zk2AXTft3jfMCruN7UfRyPLYqXooI-Rcit3aR4mGXc/s320/01.1.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<a href="http://happyhourprojects.com/jewelry-stamping/">http://happyhourprojects.com/jewelry-stamping/</a><br />
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Metal stamping is something I have taken up fairly recently (I asked for my first alphabet set for Christmas last year) and I kind of jumped into it blindly. I need all the help and tips I can get and this tutorial had some good advice. I picked up a few new tricks and learned that some of what I was already doing was on the right track.<br />
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I wanted to do some hand-stamped metal name charms to add to my wristlets. Lucky me! My friend across the crafting table at our retreat had some cuter stamping letters than mine so I borrowed hers and went to work.<br />
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In metal stamping, it always takes me a few tries to warm up to good stamping. Here was my first attempt at a charm that night:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was talking and twirled the L without thinking! oops.</td></tr>
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Just like with exercising, I must always warm up my stamping fingers before getting down to the serious stuff!<br />
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The rest went much more smoothly.<br />
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After my names were all stamped up and stained, I used a jump ring to attach them to the key fob hardware.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYjR6MP6s8hFM2eVKo53v-iFYWmd3xWDfqI3y0w7AJ1rSi6zggTY9Gq3EIuGSwrTgdmMRhHUhaG20CwmPv8hQtT-DljMeUzFkcE-TpvYI22Ykr7T65_KeS7iuuNXNlGUuNm8TgAxpMPs/s1600/IMG_2108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYjR6MP6s8hFM2eVKo53v-iFYWmd3xWDfqI3y0w7AJ1rSi6zggTY9Gq3EIuGSwrTgdmMRhHUhaG20CwmPv8hQtT-DljMeUzFkcE-TpvYI22Ykr7T65_KeS7iuuNXNlGUuNm8TgAxpMPs/s320/IMG_2108.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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My busy, busy work station:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xmVlbwxhIw4/UYWkguxYXYI/AAAAAAAAE28/QCK4D6tW5JA/s1600/IMG_2106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xmVlbwxhIw4/UYWkguxYXYI/AAAAAAAAE28/QCK4D6tW5JA/s640/IMG_2106.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the important supplies: stamping bench, pliers, nylon hammer, glass of wine. . . </td></tr>
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Once they were all put together I had these little beauties ready for all the teachers!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfbX6lUS4UA/UYWkyUhk_kI/AAAAAAAAE2g/ujYwzu8QzR8/s1600/IMG_2120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfbX6lUS4UA/UYWkyUhk_kI/AAAAAAAAE2g/ujYwzu8QzR8/s400/IMG_2120.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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So cute! And fit right in my budget. </div>
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Total cost: Prudent Baby put hers together for less than $1 each, but since I added the charm, mine were closer to $1.50. Still a pretty good price. I found a comparable wristlet selling for $9.99 without the personalized charm!</div>
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Total time: These were much faster to put together than I anticipated. Again, however, due to my sweet, sweet crafting scene, I wasn't much paying attention to time. It probably took around one hour to sew all 24 yards of webbing and ribbon together. With clamping and stamping, I would estimate another 2 1/2 hours or so. . . its fuzzy--there was pineapple lush cake involved in there somewhere. . . </div>
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Final verdict: I love the way they turned out. They were so easy! I ordered some additional hardware when I got home from my trip to put together the rest of the wristlets. Hate to ruin the surprise, but if its your birthday. . . or anniversary. . . or if you are graduating. . . . or lonely. . . you may be getting one of these!</div>
lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-38310408374011036122013-05-10T10:55:00.000-07:002013-05-12T13:25:46.069-07:00Pin 203: Coin purse upcycleOriginal pin:<br />
<img src="http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/736x/8d/88/46/8d8846b73f912d836270c160fa77318a.jpg" /><br />
No source available<br />
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What a clever way to reuse denim! Since there was no link available, there was no tutorial available either. I had to just wing it.<br />
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My friend gave me these shorts from her daughter that had been stained but had really cute pockets. She thought maybe I could find something to do with them. I had been holding on to them a long while when I saw this pin and knew it would be perfect.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-926HWC6-0tI/UYWlGFHkGpI/AAAAAAAAE18/5L6uSV7tdCk/s1600/IMG_2135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-926HWC6-0tI/UYWlGFHkGpI/AAAAAAAAE18/5L6uSV7tdCk/s320/IMG_2135.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I started by laying out the shorts flat and cutting outside the large seam around the pocket so I ended up with these two pieces:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfK1MKOk9eWjkR_Hn5aKdhNvSBabT31joVVaK22xINtWe-KzLCCCwDObk1i063TjXo577e09aLqqOLSy6D3m2Cwym-fYYNiQOy6HTEVIKr7I52lpoNF4jBXIu3zRtPPRlP7PgxL3rYIs/s1600/IMG_2138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfK1MKOk9eWjkR_Hn5aKdhNvSBabT31joVVaK22xINtWe-KzLCCCwDObk1i063TjXo577e09aLqqOLSy6D3m2Cwym-fYYNiQOy6HTEVIKr7I52lpoNF4jBXIu3zRtPPRlP7PgxL3rYIs/s320/IMG_2138.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I hemmed the top edge and then pinned right sides together. I stitched around the rounded edge. After trimming flipping right side out I stumbled across a small problem (like I tend to do when sewing without a pattern and/or plan. . . ) The hardware could not be attached in this way because I had sewed completely up the sides. I had to then rip out the side stitching an inch or so.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tVJgTrPsEGM/UYWlPVIH_zI/AAAAAAAAE1o/zz3Mu12ruPk/s1600/IMG_2141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tVJgTrPsEGM/UYWlPVIH_zI/AAAAAAAAE1o/zz3Mu12ruPk/s320/IMG_2141.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to rip back until the top of the flower patches.</td></tr>
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Attaching the hardware was not easy. The type of hardware I had purchased required hand sewing. I had to borrow a thimble to hand stitch the hardware through the thick denim hem. No tears, but quite a few curse words later the hardware was attached. I had to re-sew the side seams by hand as best as I could. Phew, finally complete! Thankfully, I was returning this to the original owner, a sweet little girl who will never notice a couple of flaws.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't look too closely at that hardware stitching on the end there. . . </td></tr>
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Total cost: A few dollars in hardware</div>
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Total time: Maybe two hours?? I did this during my crafting retreat last weekend and the time just drifted away. . . </div>
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Final verdict: A cute idea. Next time I will try to find some hardware that isn't hand stitched on. And I will also know to leave the sides open until after the hardware is placed.<br />
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lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-66684109246946360962013-05-04T16:43:00.000-07:002013-05-04T16:44:24.098-07:00Pin 202: Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow BarsOriginal pin:<br />
<img height="244" src="http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/736x/9a/8d/53/9a8d539719c2a46f92fcd4d502922a73.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<a href="http://dessert.food.com/recipe/chocolate-peanut-butter-and-marshmallows-287376">http://dessert.food.com/recipe/chocolate-peanut-butter-and-marshmallows-287376</a><br />
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L picked out these delicious little bites a few weeks ago at a potluck and he picked well. These were so delicious we had to go back for seconds. When the event was over I ran home and searched for the recipe. Luckily I found it quickly and I just had to make them this week for our mom's group. <br />
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These could not be easier. Even my "junk builder grade" microwave whipped these together fast. It actually took the exact time called for in the recipe to melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter together. I didn't have quite the amount of chocolate chips called for but I did have semi-sweet baking chocolate. I used a combined amount of chips and squares to equal the weight called for.<br />
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I also did not have the called for size of pan so I improvised with my 9 inch round cake pan. Guess I wasn't too prepared for this one!<br />
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I whipped this together the night before and tossed it into the fridge to cool overnight. In the morning I pulled it out ready to cut. It was well hardened to the pan so I dipped the bottom of the pan in a sink of warm water to loosen them up a little bit. Next time I will line the pan with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray for some easy release.<br />
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Because it was round, I cut it into nice little pie slices.<br />
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Due to my larger pan size, my chocolate was not layered up quite as thick as the one in the original pin's picture but they were still delicious! They are soft and creamy and oh, so yummy! I had this burst of inspiration after I tried the first slice and here I bestow the greatest gift on you: </div>
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Grab something to write this down because you are going to want to remember this. </div>
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Get close to the screen so you will be able to read this important information well. </div>
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Ready??</div>
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Cut the bars into squares and put them on a graham cracker. Ahhhhh! (Chorus of angels singing!) Like a s'more with peanut butter! Do it!</div>
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If you leave these out of the refrigerator they will start to soften a little. You can either re-chill them or just start eating them with a spoon. </div>
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Total cost: $0 I had all these items in my pantry.</div>
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Total time: 2 minutes!! </div>
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Final verdict: Delicious. This is one of the easiest, fastest recipes I have found on Pinterest yet. It is my new go-to recipe for work potluck nights. I will be squishing these between a couple of graham crackers though. </div>
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lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-59931791478237211082013-04-30T20:06:00.000-07:002013-04-30T20:06:41.112-07:00Pin 201: Baking Soda Mattress RefresherBetween working, illness, baseball, not to mention a zillion other things, I haven't been doing much pinning lately. Lucky me--this weekend I will be zooming off to a relaxing crafting retreat with some of my favorite crafting ladies. I'm hoping to have a slew of posts for you in the coming weeks. (Teacher Appreciation is coming up. . . hint, hint!) Meanwhile. . .<br />
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Original pin:<br />
<img src="http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/baking-soda-on-mattress1.jpg" /><br />
<a href="http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/05/the-countless-uses-for-baking-soda-besides-baking.html">http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/05/the-countless-uses-for-baking-soda-besides-baking.html</a><br />
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Let me tell you, Jillee over at One Good Thing is one smart lady. She has a long list of great uses for baking soda. This one that I tried was a method to refresh your mattress.<br />
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Spring is in the air around here. Nothing gets me more in a cleaning mood than a cool spring day where I can throw open the windows and air the house out. Last week I did just that. I stripped the beds bare and laundered all the bedding (it was due). While they washed, I put together this concoction and went to work.<br />
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I recently bought this bottle of scent for use in another project (still looking for the final ingredient before I can try that one.) I figured there was enough here to spare a couple drops for this one.<br />
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I used about 8 drops per cup of baking soda. I whisked the scent into the baking soda so that I had a light, fluffy powder. There were a few baking soda clumps to break up.<br />
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An extreme close up of my powder!</div>
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I was staring at this trying to determine the best way to sprinkle it onto the mattress when I remembered some glass spice jars I had tucked away after they were empty. I funneled the powder into the jars and was able to fill three. I sprinkled a little more than one jar over my queen sized mattress.<br />
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An hour or so later I came back to vacuum it up. My whole room smelled delicious and fresh. I don't have any fancy attachment for the vacuum so I just climbed up there with the whole vacuum and went to town. My three year old thought I had lost my marbles.<br />
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When all the sheets and bedding were clean and dry and it was time to put the bed back together I grabbed my shaker again. Growing up, my mother would always put talcum powder on the bed when making it. It lends a nice smell and absorbs moisture. I decided this would work great for this purpose so I sprinkled the top of the mattress pad before I put the bottom sheet on. It left a nice scent and really refreshed my room.<br />
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I have a little more than a jar and a half left and I will keep sprinkling this on with my sheet changes until it is gone. I don't have carpet any longer, but if I did, this would be a good carpet deodorizer.<br />
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Total cost: I had both of the items on hand, but baking if I were guessing, it was probably less than $.30 worth of baking soda and fragrance.<br />
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Total time: 5 minutes to mix up<br />
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Final verdict: My room was so fresh! I loved it. The original calls for essential oils which I didn't have, but I did have this fragrance that worked great. I can't wait to use it again and again. The fragrance oils were so cheap that it would be easy to make a few different scents to go with the seasons.lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-52473818107380908062013-04-23T15:10:00.001-07:002013-04-23T15:10:27.293-07:00Pin 200: Single Serving Chocolate Chip CookieOriginal pin:<br />
<img height="213" src="http://prudentbaby.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IMG_0939.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<a href="http://prudentbaby.com/2012/04/entertaining-food/one-minuteone-cookie-how-to-make-a-single-microwave-chocolate-chip-cookie-in-a-minute/">http://prudentbaby.com/2012/04/entertaining-food/one-minuteone-cookie-how-to-make-a-single-microwave-chocolate-chip-cookie-in-a-minute/</a><br />
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What better way to celebrate my 200th pin milestone than with a warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookie??? Prudent Baby shared this recipe for making a single cookie in the microwave. I scribbled down the recipe on a post-it note and went to work.<br />
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My microwave is nothing fancy. Honestly, it is something very cheap and a little sad. A repairman once called it "a builder grade piece of junk." It has a giant crack across the front plastic but works well enough for now. All that being said, it took much, much longer to soften my butter than described in the original recipe. I would just advise you to check and make sure your butter is, in fact, softened before you continue to add ingredients. Minutes later I had stirred up this concoction in my mug.<br />
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I poured it onto my plate and popped it in the microwave for the instructed 45 seconds. Now, I know I said my microwave was a piece of junk, but this surprised me. It was so liquid that I didn't feel any amount of time would firm it up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gV5uuSnDxfI/UXb6NvnqegI/AAAAAAAAEts/w5cPp6LfhOo/s1600/IMG_2015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gV5uuSnDxfI/UXb6NvnqegI/AAAAAAAAEts/w5cPp6LfhOo/s320/IMG_2015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is really, really sad looking.</td></tr>
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I thought it must need more flour, or less liquid, or hmmmm. . . I looked at my little post-it scribble and went back to the computer to discover. . . AHA! I wrote tsp instead of TBSP when it came to the flour. I scrapped the first one and started over. My second batch looked much less liquid and more like cookie dough.<br />
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I plopped this on the plate and put it in the microwave. 45 seconds later, while not completely done, it was looking more cookie-like than version one.</div>
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It is kind of hard to see in this picture, but the middle top was baked-looking and the edges and bottom were very raw looking. I put it back in for as long as it took to look consistently baked through. In all, it took about 1 & 1/2 minutes to achieve this beauty.<br />
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It looks so good in the picture it is making my mouth water. And it was good! It was very hot and melty so I ate it with a spoon. MMMMMmmmmm.<br />
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Total cost: $0 I had everything on hand.<br />
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Total time: 10 minutes for the first flop. The second one was more like 5 minutes. It took a bit to gather all the ingredients. The second time, I had some of them out already. Plus I had some of the recipe memorized. One more batch and I won't even need that old post-it scribble.<br />
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Final verdict: It was great in a pinch and great for a single serving. It was no match for fresh, oven-baked batch of chocolate chip cookies. I definitely don't need a whole batch though. It squelched a craving quite nicely. As it cooled to room temperature, it wasn't as delicious, so I would recommend that you eat it while still warm. I would also recommend a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream (BlueBell if you've got it!)<br />
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lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-54561358019263055612013-04-21T22:24:00.000-07:002013-04-21T22:24:16.695-07:00Pinprovement! French Bread RecipeI may have said this ad nauseum, but I just love making bread. You'll probably think I'm a total dork now, but I am going to admit something to you--sometimes, when I'm making bread and it is baking and making my whole house smell delicious, it makes me cry. Absolute tears of joy. I could never go carb-free.<br />
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In October I posted <a href="http://lizspinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/10/pin-144.html">Pin 144</a>, a recipe for one hour French bread. My family liked it in its original form but it was very dense and something was just not quite right for me. I tinkered around with the recipe a little bit and found a combination that I like a little better. It is no longer one-hour, but more like 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours. Still much faster than some other recipes I have tried. I make this recipe regularly and freeze the extra loaves. When I want one, I simply pop it in the oven and soon I have fresh, hot, homemade bread again.<br />
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As I mentioned in the original post, there were a few steps that I was just itching to change up. The first one of those was the yeast.<br />
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I swapped out the regular yeast for fast rising yeast. I was looking for a fluffier bread so I wanted to use maximize my yeast activity and rise time.<br />
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My recipe looks like this:<br />
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2 1/2 c warm water<br />
2 packages of Fast Rise yeast<br />
2 T sugar<br />
1 tsp salt<br />
3 T extra virgin olive oil<br />
7 c flour<br />
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Add yeast and sugar to warm water and let sit for 5 minutes until you see lots of bubbles. When I first started making bread, my number one mistake was not getting my water warm enough or getting it too hot. It should be 105-110 degrees or as indicated on your yeast package. My advice to new bread makers is to actually measure the temperature of your water.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 5 minutes--I have bubbles completely across the surface. All the white is bubbles, you can see a bit of clear water at the edges. </td></tr>
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Add salt and oil. Stir to combine. I make this bread using my stand mixer with the dough hooks. If you don't have one, you can stir by hand until it is too thick and then knead by hand to combine all the flour.<br />
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Time to add the flour. I increased the recipe to 7 cups. I add flour 1/2 cup at a time and allow it to mix. The original dough was really sticky and difficult to handle. Depending on your dough and your environment, you may need a little more or a little less flour. Here is my very scientific, expert method of how I determine when I have enough flour.<br />
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The poke test:<br />
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Gently poke a clean, dry finger into the dough:<br />
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Pull finger out. If it is covered in sticky dough, it is still too wet. Keep adding flour.<br />
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When you have enough flour, the dough is pulling away from the side of the bowl more and your poke test will look more like this:<br />
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Now it is time to let it rise. My poor husband usually gets dish duty. I try to keep the dishes down to a minimum so here is a little cheat step. Doing this cheat step saves me one large bowl from dish duty.<br />
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The right way to do it: Coat a large bowl in olive oil. Place the dough ball inside, turning over once to coat all sides.<br />
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The cheater's way: LIGHTLY spray the sides of your current bowl and the top of the dough with non-stick cooking spray (like canola spray).<br />
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I also spray the side of the plastic wrap that will come in contact with the dough.<br />
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Then I put the bowl in my warming cabinet. (heehee) If you didn't read Pin 144 about my warming cabinet I like to rise in, let me sum it here. Preheat the oven to 350 for 1 minute, then turn it off. Place your bowl of dough inside and let it rise. It is perfect! My dough always rises perfectly in there, it is undisturbed and warm no matter what the actual temperature of my kitchen is.<br />
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Allow the dough to rise 30 minutes to 1 hour. The longer you let it rise, the more air pockets you create for fluffier bread. However, keep your eye on it. After 30 minutes in the warming cabinet this is how tall my dough is:<br />
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Which is also why I spray every surface with cooking spray.<br />
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Next, I spray my working surface with cooking spray and dust with flour. Punch down the dough and divide the dough into four parts. You will see in the pictures that I can not divide evenly. My loaves are always a bit differently sized so do not stress if your loaves are not even.<br />
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Place one dough ball in the center of your workspace. Cover the remaining parts with your plastic.<br />
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Pat the dough ball into a flat, long oval. Do not overwork the dough. You will know you are overworking it if you can not get it to cooperate with you. If it won't pat out to an oval and keeps bouncing back, cover it with plastic and walk away for 10 minutes or so. Then come back and try again. Starting with the edge nearest you, roll in a jelly-roll fashion to create the loaf shape. I kind of roll with a little, teensy, stretch along the way.<br />
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This may be a good time to mention herbed breads. If you want four loaves of herbed breads, you can knead in your herbs after your flour, before your rise. If you don't want to knead them in, or if you want different kinds of loaves, you can do it here. I don't like to knead them in in this step--the bread seems to get too overworked. I sprinkle the herbs on top of my oval before I roll it and it bakes out pretty evenly.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_qB8RXR2a8/UXS5cllO1AI/AAAAAAAAEsM/LnqdnETyQCc/s1600/IMG_1968.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_qB8RXR2a8/UXS5cllO1AI/AAAAAAAAEsM/LnqdnETyQCc/s320/IMG_1968.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Place on prepared baking sheet.<br />
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How I like to prepare my baking sheet for bread:<br />
Spray sheet with cooking spray. Place parchment or wax paper on sheet. Spray parchment/wax paper with cooking spray. You can also dust with cornmeal, but I don't find that this recipe needs it.<br />
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Once you have all four loaves on the sheet, cut slits in the top of each loaf. I use kitchen scissors to snip the cuts or you can use a sharp knife. Cover with plastic until ready to bake. A second rise is not necessary. I usually just let it rest while the oven preheats.<br />
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Place in a oven, preheated to 375 degrees. Bake 30-35 minutes or until your desired brownness. I like to brush melted butter on the tops as it comes out of the oven.<br />
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For a crisper crust, place a dish of hot, steaming water in the oven below the bread pan during baking.<br />
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Thirty minutes later I had these beauties (see my little runt loaf? Nothing wrong with a runt.)<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ea6in4mHD08/UXS5i9jAC9I/AAAAAAAAEsU/NdUyFZPqrpI/s1600/IMG_1977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ea6in4mHD08/UXS5i9jAC9I/AAAAAAAAEsU/NdUyFZPqrpI/s320/IMG_1977.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The final result is beautiful, isn't it? Here is the fluffier inside:<br />
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I hope you like my adjustments! If you want a denser bread, or if you want to try out the original, go check out the link from<a href="http://lizspinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/10/pin-144.html"> Pin 144</a>. </div>
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As I mentioned in the beginning, I freeze these loaves. Wrap in aluminum foil and pop in the freezer. When you are ready to eat it, pop it into the oven, still wrapped in the foil, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through. I'm not sure how long these would keep in the freezer because we usually go through ours at about a 1 loaf/week rate. </div>
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Good luck and Happy Bread Making!!</div>
<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-89487537253319453662013-04-19T20:11:00.001-07:002013-04-19T20:11:46.246-07:00Pin 199: Scrappy Alphabet Wall ArtOriginal pin:<br />
<img height="400" src="http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/736x/c1/85/60/c185602830dac50ca29b1955807908ae.jpg" width="266" /><br />
<a href="http://aussiescrapsource.typepad.com/aussie_scrap_source/2011/03/weekend-inspiration-the-girls-paperie.html">http://aussiescrapsource.typepad.com/aussie_scrap_source/2011/03/weekend-inspiration-the-girls-paperie.html</a><br />
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You can't see this pin on my Pinterest because its hiding on one of my secret boards. I love the secret boards feature! Now I can surprise more people. I wanted to make something to donate to an auction fundraiser at my youngest son's preschool. I thought this was really cute and could be reproduced easily. <br />
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Step one was to find a good children's book that I did not mind tearing up. This is really hard for me because I just have a sacred spot in my soul for books. I went out to thrift one book and ended up coming home with 15! The book I chose to destroy was one illustrated by my favorite illustrator, Quentin Blake. I had never heard of the title, but I just love his illustrations so much I knew I wanted it to be part of this art piece.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ue_IvRyVUBA/UWg-ezPgXrI/AAAAAAAAEns/zRzhxv85deY/s1600/IMG_0814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ue_IvRyVUBA/UWg-ezPgXrI/AAAAAAAAEns/zRzhxv85deY/s320/IMG_0814.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I selected the pages I wanted, and mod podged the back only to a canvas.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QAWyqOSg7YQ/UWg-km0FHyI/AAAAAAAAEnw/k00RLwVPxQI/s1600/IMG_0815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QAWyqOSg7YQ/UWg-km0FHyI/AAAAAAAAEnw/k00RLwVPxQI/s400/IMG_0815.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Even though these pages were already a bit aged, I decided to stain them. I loved the way the stain turned out! I used this stain, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004PGVPAE/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004PGVPAE&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20">Ranger TDW-29892 Tim Holtz Distress Stain Fluid Water-Based Dye, Vintage Photo, 1-Ounce</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004PGVPAE" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
, which you can spray with water to create variations in the color.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lnrSUA9lDcg/UWg-r__KHjI/AAAAAAAAEn8/VnCHB_6v4vw/s1600/IMG_0824.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lnrSUA9lDcg/UWg-r__KHjI/AAAAAAAAEn8/VnCHB_6v4vw/s320/IMG_0824.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Now I had this to work with.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_RFx0IT6IhY/UWg-qz4AYxI/AAAAAAAAEn4/7MQ6qbIHaH8/s1600/IMG_0821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="347" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_RFx0IT6IhY/UWg-qz4AYxI/AAAAAAAAEn4/7MQ6qbIHaH8/s400/IMG_0821.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I know you are seeing all these wrinkles and thinking what a mess it looks now, but have you seen my post on the greatest mod podge trick ever??? Back at <a href="http://lizspinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/04/pin-51-pin-52.html">Pin 52</a> I learned what an asset the blow dryer is for mod podge projects.<br />
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Next step was to cut out all the letters. Y'all probably can guess by now that there is NO WAY I was going to measure and trace and precisely cut letters out for this. I flipped on the DVR and went freestyle with my letters. Guess where that ended me?? Well, they didn't quite fit the canvas in a way I was happy with.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BvKHIdrzpcU/UWg-ujoMvxI/AAAAAAAAEoA/sgFlRRacdJA/s1600/IMG_0825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BvKHIdrzpcU/UWg-ujoMvxI/AAAAAAAAEoA/sgFlRRacdJA/s320/IMG_0825.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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So I cut another entire alphabet. Alphabet number two was a bit too small.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF1gEKvKSjI7-9V0TZ327sdKgkhghHFioNDfIxHBmVt8oOUWOaBtnxZs3oTdIf8e10qf50aG39bAKztULX5rulcc3RdWqGjA-vLr9qT4bi15VtAIbjqpKNq-u1YeKF77vtwuPKmIyGB6I/s1600/IMG_0849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF1gEKvKSjI7-9V0TZ327sdKgkhghHFioNDfIxHBmVt8oOUWOaBtnxZs3oTdIf8e10qf50aG39bAKztULX5rulcc3RdWqGjA-vLr9qT4bi15VtAIbjqpKNq-u1YeKF77vtwuPKmIyGB6I/s320/IMG_0849.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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(This is sounding a little like a Goldilocks story. . . ) Alphabet number three was juuuussstt right. Sorry, I couldn't resist.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl0p2gDzkPpptx5m53wQzjAlA7ycxthRT2j9z_mySTzOrzlI-bnQ1P2-MQiDN_05d9L265JEIkzvFOUCSxY1a2mDCmMgejq4vvUpGw8Kz75jBGvXwn_Kw_JlshZOvhyYNlJJ4tl35TP7Y/s1600/IMG_0836.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl0p2gDzkPpptx5m53wQzjAlA7ycxthRT2j9z_mySTzOrzlI-bnQ1P2-MQiDN_05d9L265JEIkzvFOUCSxY1a2mDCmMgejq4vvUpGw8Kz75jBGvXwn_Kw_JlshZOvhyYNlJJ4tl35TP7Y/s320/IMG_0836.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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No, there was no alphabet three. I just mixed and matched letters from set one and set two to make it fit like I wanted.<br />
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There was just one teensy, weensy problem left. You see, this illustrator, Quentin Blake, well I just love his work. I really wanted to make sure some of it was seen in the final result. And there was one picture I was particularly enamored with that I didn't want covered up. Letter spacing now became a problem.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WWeGodyOlcQ/UWg-m5Aax5I/AAAAAAAAEn0/hauDu0y8rJk/s1600/IMG_0818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WWeGodyOlcQ/UWg-m5Aax5I/AAAAAAAAEn0/hauDu0y8rJk/s400/IMG_0818.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
Luckily, I had this giant pile of letters from which to work and I was able to save most of this picture. I don't know why I liked it so much. I didn't actually even read the story so I'm not sure what is even going on here.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRPt_0POuy3V2mWiISl3YKXVziO2JIpkv9d-Uy811nPm6t1MBSn2gWPiw4ZfZ5im12OKjdF6dAPrNQfyXbisncMooYHgUv_vGenEqU7-7Uw6uyA5TYoA3FHq-vfuaADD84-pwbpDNofE/s1600/IMG_0832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRPt_0POuy3V2mWiISl3YKXVziO2JIpkv9d-Uy811nPm6t1MBSn2gWPiw4ZfZ5im12OKjdF6dAPrNQfyXbisncMooYHgUv_vGenEqU7-7Uw6uyA5TYoA3FHq-vfuaADD84-pwbpDNofE/s320/IMG_0832.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a big ol' pile of letters</td></tr>
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I skipped a part of the background story I wanted to tell you. . . </div>
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I love mixed media art. As a child, I would spend hours cutting up magazines and creating these gigantic collages of words and pictures I liked. They covered my doors and walls in my room. LITERALLY. Ask my sisters, I'm sure they remember. No magazine was safe in my house. </div>
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I knew when I started this that I would have to add other elements to the canvas besides the alphabet. I added a measuring tape cut. There were a few hits and misses here as well. Thankfully, I had extra book pages because I had to remove a few items I didn't like after they were in place. I decided to go with hand sewn buttons to complete the look. A few people were surprised that I had actually sewn them on, but since it was on canvas, it was a fairly easy endeavor. </div>
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Here is the final project. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IiJmow8bSjs/UWg-_jW89fI/AAAAAAAAEoU/pIhk6aFXBBM/s1600/IMG_1584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IiJmow8bSjs/UWg-_jW89fI/AAAAAAAAEoU/pIhk6aFXBBM/s640/IMG_1584.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dOXAydD-QotNPMIsuzrWl7FjBQttIaphEgunbDmBHiJRVRhnjRNG2mHdQW0JTyjTFpnynbrqvrwvizcyTZhRFHTug-vDNg9F8UF5Ih_k-SP9njZuDLnlQqUOmOMzCIVUTIrS5OOYsw4/s1600/IMG_1585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dOXAydD-QotNPMIsuzrWl7FjBQttIaphEgunbDmBHiJRVRhnjRNG2mHdQW0JTyjTFpnynbrqvrwvizcyTZhRFHTug-vDNg9F8UF5Ih_k-SP9njZuDLnlQqUOmOMzCIVUTIrS5OOYsw4/s400/IMG_1585.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g8v6cgVnwLs/UWg_IaxogiI/AAAAAAAAEoc/6hfg0oBzWrk/s1600/IMG_1586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g8v6cgVnwLs/UWg_IaxogiI/AAAAAAAAEoc/6hfg0oBzWrk/s400/IMG_1586.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I have never sold an art piece before. I have only gifted one and it was to my mother a few years ago. Giving this away was a little humbling for me because, . . . well. . . .honestly? I put a lot of time, and a lot of love into this. I made it the way I wanted it to be, and what if no one liked it?? I was fully prepared to buy it back for twice the cost of the materials. I just really, really, REALLY didn't want to hear anybody say anything bad about it. I loved it and might take a comment like that to heart.<br />
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Luckily, I didn't have to hear any comments about it. People were bidding on it at the auction so I didn't have to (or get to) buy it back. I hope it went to a good home and they love it like I do.<br />
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Total cost: Around $25<br />
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Total time: Hours and hours and hours. This time increased because I redid a few things. In all I worked on this for weeks. I would do a little something and then let it sit out and stare at it for a few days. There is a lot of pressure when you are making something for someone else! It sat on an easel in a high traffic part of my house so that I could walk by and contemplate it. My family helped me contemplate and make judgement calls on a few things. <br />
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Final verdict: I was a little emotionally wrapped up in this project, but not in an unhealthy way. I love the way it turned out, but was okay parting with it. I received a lot of compliments on it and it did have a few bidders. I tried to stay away from the bidding sheet because I was so emotionally tied to it. Bottom line is, it sold to someone who I hope loves it like I do. If I wanted to make one for myself, I could. I still have half of Willie the Squowse left and an entire alphabet set. Selling personal art is hard! No wonder so many artists aren't discovered until they are dead. They probably hide their stuff from prying eyes to protect their egos!<br />
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<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-49669756291012785612013-04-16T19:23:00.000-07:002013-04-16T19:23:07.092-07:00Pin 198: Pretty Braided BunOriginal pin:<br />
<img height="295" src="http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/736x/9b/8e/31/9b8e316f343a074212bc2ddd0f5a3617.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<a href="http://www.babble.com/home/25-more-totally-pretty-10-minute-hairstyles/#braided-bun">http://www.babble.com/home/25-more-totally-pretty-10-minute-hairstyles/#braided-bun</a><br />
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Last week I was having a surgical procedure on my neck. I needed to get all my hair up and out of the way to make everything go a little bit smoother. I turned to my beauty board for a little inspiration and found this braided bun tucked away amidst these 25 totally pretty hairstyles. I also appreciate that it promises to be complete in 10 minutes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfF4IpOfc4b5PKwVh2WpIQZrM_W3XgHk_D8ppn21tLIF2s9NwgrVTtBfp9fh-VU6pxoq3CxCvYx2Gv5Fc5emKshMUk6Nki3lqCJ1NmOwY7eZDHML7fPqTbuT3rhxrZjNgGHZGbtFzLPU/s1600/IMG_1715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfF4IpOfc4b5PKwVh2WpIQZrM_W3XgHk_D8ppn21tLIF2s9NwgrVTtBfp9fh-VU6pxoq3CxCvYx2Gv5Fc5emKshMUk6Nki3lqCJ1NmOwY7eZDHML7fPqTbuT3rhxrZjNgGHZGbtFzLPU/s640/IMG_1715.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Here is the offender to be removed. It is just an ol' fatty tumor that has been hanging around for about 5 years, but it keeps growing and it bugs me. Time to see you off old friend.<br />
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The directions are simple and easy to follow. I particularly like this step:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwig7P2XLEzRu3T9nQKgomQfyBUB4B_Z1e3ddczpjmeFRorRVcZXJXdB_BFwbELq6cxdOA32ky2sHYkR2p8T3qkikTLLh-Dmeg96XW8Erq5mOq26ItqRT0Kl3cLqYDzmufgSqfvANT78/s1600/IMG_1718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwig7P2XLEzRu3T9nQKgomQfyBUB4B_Z1e3ddczpjmeFRorRVcZXJXdB_BFwbELq6cxdOA32ky2sHYkR2p8T3qkikTLLh-Dmeg96XW8Erq5mOq26ItqRT0Kl3cLqYDzmufgSqfvANT78/s320/IMG_1718.JPG" width="214" /></a></div>
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I totally would have rocked this look as is about, oh, 23 or so years ago. </div>
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But not today. Finished it up, lickety-split. It was easy and complete on my first attempt. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OxKmvZPsRm0/UW35SPMwYlI/AAAAAAAAEpY/MboOZKb0_nQ/s1600/IMG_1720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OxKmvZPsRm0/UW35SPMwYlI/AAAAAAAAEpY/MboOZKb0_nQ/s320/IMG_1720.JPG" width="228" /></a></div>
My hair doesn't have quite as much volume, so I needed to dress it up a bit. I pulled a crocheted flower from my yarn stash and pinned it in place to pretty things up a bit. After smoothing out the top and spraying in place I was ready to go.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FFiZoPpE1oc/UW35VRkx97I/AAAAAAAAEpc/IiSvoEirDbw/s1600/IMG_1732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FFiZoPpE1oc/UW35VRkx97I/AAAAAAAAEpc/IiSvoEirDbw/s320/IMG_1732.JPG" width="216" /></a></div>
Total cost: $0<br />
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Total time: 10 minutes--as promised!!<br />
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Final verdict: A nice, pretty way to get all my hair up. My surgeon was thankful for the effort as well! I will definitely use this again! And I am going to spare you the post-op pictures.<br />
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(And a note, as I was editing the photos to prepare for the post, my son walked in and said "Ooooh! Pretty girl. I love that pretty girl."<br />
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Since they are all of the back of my head, I replied with, "Do you know who that is?"<br />
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Son: "No. Who?"<br />
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Me: "That's your mommy!"<br />
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Son: "Oh mommy! I love you! Let me give you a hug."<br />
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Me: "Thanks darling. Now get your booty back in bed and GO TO SLEEP!!")<br />
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<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-23176870262569155232013-04-08T21:14:00.000-07:002013-04-08T21:14:18.689-07:00Get-Well Gift BundleMy sweet, tender-hearted six-year old said good-bye to his Kindergarten teacher today as she left school to have knee-replacement surgery. She will not be back before the end of the year so we wanted to get her a nice get-well/thank you for the year/going away gift. I solicited donations from other parents and suggestions from recently hospitalized friends and was able to put together this bundle of gifts.<br />
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Initially I had planned on packing this all in a nice little basket, but as the gift grew and grew I found I didn't have a basket this size! I tied a cute tag to each item and packed them inside a gift bag tied with a big colorful bow. Here is what I included:<br />
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1. Facial cleansing wipes. Even when I am at home there are times it is a chore for me to make it up to go wash off my face at the end of the day. Lay me up with a post-operative, major leg surgery condition and I may never wash my face at all! Now she can just stash this nearby the bed and freshen up as needed.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d7KgDzzNitU/UWNUE8E74-I/AAAAAAAAElI/-Jhfl8WtXKc/s1600/IMG_1607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d7KgDzzNitU/UWNUE8E74-I/AAAAAAAAElI/-Jhfl8WtXKc/s400/IMG_1607.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Because sometimes you just don't want to get up to wash your face."</td></tr>
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2. Hard candy. Eating and drinking restrictions, anesthesia, and a slew of medications are going to bring on some wicked dry mouth. I threw in some hard candy to help combat the dry mouth.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-37wuMbjk75U/UWNUIN_C2TI/AAAAAAAAElM/QqOuvMP7R5o/s1600/IMG_1611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-37wuMbjk75U/UWNUIN_C2TI/AAAAAAAAElM/QqOuvMP7R5o/s400/IMG_1611.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Because surgery sucks."</td></tr>
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3. Interesting magazine. Reading material is a necessity. Sometimes anesthesia and pain medications can severely limit your attention span. Books can be a bit hard to read under that influence. A magazine with short articles can be better. His teacher makes some amazing cakes so this magazine should be interesting to her. I know she won't be up making too many cakes, but maybe she can fantasize up some good ideas while she heals.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rIe9KElQir8/UWNULJWhIxI/AAAAAAAAElQ/KDtZRebHwsI/s1600/IMG_1615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rIe9KElQir8/UWNULJWhIxI/AAAAAAAAElQ/KDtZRebHwsI/s400/IMG_1615.JPG" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"For inspiration during recuperation"</td></tr>
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4. Tissues. Hospitals make me sneeze. I've been working in hospitals for over 12 years. Something about the dry air and hospital linen make my nose go crazy. And if I had surgery, I just might cry afterwards. Have you ever used those hospital tissues? Not fun. A little like wiping your nose with a piece of notebook paper.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIosw5ql6-Vaa1CAub8wpL-aIMTMDTZh3ZQdxImOZzKnhNALD3pP0RTJPr3mFZzTSrs1xrEGdvdxJsvuXuCdygOTrpmBrerRaA_6Q6rS24YIUmamRWlKetNvfhFawYfKWp4rbwwokOCis/s1600/IMG_1619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIosw5ql6-Vaa1CAub8wpL-aIMTMDTZh3ZQdxImOZzKnhNALD3pP0RTJPr3mFZzTSrs1xrEGdvdxJsvuXuCdygOTrpmBrerRaA_6Q6rS24YIUmamRWlKetNvfhFawYfKWp4rbwwokOCis/s400/IMG_1619.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A tissue because we will miss you"</td></tr>
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5. Lavender and chamomile lotion. That dry air also makes dry skin. On the bottle it says "helps you. . . feel at ease." Yes! That is what I want for her!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-baQcIbqkCTk/UWNUQ3sBy3I/AAAAAAAAElY/uZLqakuZgCM/s1600/IMG_1620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-baQcIbqkCTk/UWNUQ3sBy3I/AAAAAAAAElY/uZLqakuZgCM/s400/IMG_1620.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Take a moment everyday to relax"</td></tr>
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6. Lip balm. Should I say it again? Dry air, dry skin, dry lips.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DPEsWTlEjA8/UWNUVsZcHqI/AAAAAAAAElc/CdxfVz5zB-Y/s1600/IMG_1623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DPEsWTlEjA8/UWNUVsZcHqI/AAAAAAAAElc/CdxfVz5zB-Y/s320/IMG_1623.JPG" width="302" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"So your lips my shine as you smile through pain"</td></tr>
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7. "Diamond Strength" Nail polish. I'm not sure I have ever seen her without her nails painted so this one seemed natural. It will serve multiple purposes--something to do while resting with her leg up and keep her looking good.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dRUTso1bH18/UWNUYRnAVZI/AAAAAAAAElg/hfKJfkpY8HI/s1600/IMG_1625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dRUTso1bH18/UWNUYRnAVZI/AAAAAAAAElg/hfKJfkpY8HI/s400/IMG_1625.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"May you have strength from tip to toe"</td></tr>
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8. Non-skid slippers. From a nursing point of view--it's got to be non-skid. These were cute, soft, and non-skid.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C1Qw3EAzNqc/UWNUZHaywxI/AAAAAAAAElk/Yt5rs3r4J28/s1600/IMG_1630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C1Qw3EAzNqc/UWNUZHaywxI/AAAAAAAAElk/Yt5rs3r4J28/s400/IMG_1630.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"To get you back on your feet"</td></tr>
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9. Chenille throw. This was so super-soft I wanted to keep it for myself. I know it isn't cold weather around here right now, but hospitals are cold. I, personally, would want to be cozy in my house also. I love a nice throw.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hafaj4MjlTc/UWNUf5hkZjI/AAAAAAAAEls/XE_VL5oIsyQ/s1600/IMG_1635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hafaj4MjlTc/UWNUf5hkZjI/AAAAAAAAEls/XE_VL5oIsyQ/s400/IMG_1635.JPG" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A warm hug from your Kindergarten angels"</td></tr>
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10. Chocolate. What get-well gift is complete without chocolate?? I steel stamped the lid "FEEL BETTER" and filled the sucker up with M&M's. Putting bulk candy into a mason jar is such an easy way to pretty-up the presentation instead of the big bag it comes in.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iFOImJfbFdE/UWNUADrAkBI/AAAAAAAAElE/kKrgxuWXE3g/s1600/IMG_1606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iFOImJfbFdE/UWNUADrAkBI/AAAAAAAAElE/kKrgxuWXE3g/s320/IMG_1606.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CIUWhJSiXas/UWNUc-hHx7I/AAAAAAAAElo/4eZTXm7jC_8/s1600/IMG_1631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CIUWhJSiXas/UWNUc-hHx7I/AAAAAAAAElo/4eZTXm7jC_8/s400/IMG_1631.JPG" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Because chocolate makes everything better"</td></tr>
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Total cost: Not saying since it is a gift. But if I had more money, I would have purchased a big basket to pack it all in. I may have added a small bag of toiletries, wet hand wipes, a nice water bottle or big cup (like a Tervis), single serving drink mixes or water flavorings, teas, hair ties or soft headbands, gift cards for restaurants where her family can pick up food to bring home to her.<br />
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Total time: It took a little more than an hour to make the tags and pack up the items.<br />
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Final verdict: I think it looks like a gift I would want! Hopefully the items are helpful to her and she has a swift recovery.lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-87352135730713187352013-04-02T22:33:00.000-07:002013-04-02T22:41:44.768-07:00Pin 197: My Exercise PlaylistOriginal pin:<br />
<img src="http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/736x/f1/1f/f3/f11ff3218450635d3bed14284a22f16e.jpg" /><br />
<a href="http://tipofyourtonguetopofmylungs.blogspot.com/2011/04/200-running-songs.html">http://tipofyourtonguetopofmylungs.blogspot.com/2011/04/200-running-songs.html</a><br />
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I have a big set of background info for this pin project.<br />
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Firstly, I consider myself a "runner" and have pretty much always considered myself a "runner." I haven't always consistently run, but aside from pregnancy, I can't think of a time since junior high that I haven't been able to hop out and run at least a mile in 12 minutes or less without dying. I am always looking for good running music. While I have always been able to run I still need the motivation of a good beat to keep the legs pumping.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nrR21Blkmms/UVXo_zoR6gI/AAAAAAAAEg0/9YIA2s_fncI/s1600/IMG_0114%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nrR21Blkmms/UVXo_zoR6gI/AAAAAAAAEg0/9YIA2s_fncI/s1600/IMG_0114%25281%2529.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where my weekday runs usually start. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Second, I have recently re-entered the racing world. I ran my first marathon ten years ago. After that, I took some time off from running, which turned into time off for a wedding, kids, work, etc. This past summer my husband signed me up for a half-marathon to be run in December 2012. I picked up my training and really had to get some fresh tunes to really turn it up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vJs8NqsVoaM/UVY95c_WsvI/AAAAAAAAEg8/K2Xb3A544CU/s1600/026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vJs8NqsVoaM/UVY95c_WsvI/AAAAAAAAEg8/K2Xb3A544CU/s1600/026.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks for getting me back into running!</td></tr>
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Music. I grew up in a home in which there was constantly music playing. I have more radios/mp3 players/speakers/cd players (aka anything to play some music) in my house than TVs. I think this is turning into something of a rarity. I have at least a radio in every room of my house including the kitchen and dining area. I have a wide variety of music interests. My playlists include music from all genres.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy-q_Qf9fNlhytfSe4aP9wgFbweMGtSJPgiysz7tX1Y-wbXvcRJbSaIpe0Njgj6lWvSbML4ZCV1ruJ2Iehu-TiOPljlZSOxbhEvOaRjEX4Oy22JWb7r0CKZJBD954aQ9zZ0wfZcRfQmis/s1600/IMG_0115%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy-q_Qf9fNlhytfSe4aP9wgFbweMGtSJPgiysz7tX1Y-wbXvcRJbSaIpe0Njgj6lWvSbML4ZCV1ruJ2Iehu-TiOPljlZSOxbhEvOaRjEX4Oy22JWb7r0CKZJBD954aQ9zZ0wfZcRfQmis/s1600/IMG_0115%25281%2529.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My inspiring view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I would go broke buying music if I didn't keep a tight hold on my spending. I used to buy all of my music through iTunes. Recently I discovered a competitor in Amazon. Using their Cloud Player, I can also buy music from them and with the right settings (totally easy to set up--I figured it out and I am not computer savvy) the music still goes straight into my iTunes folder. You can get it by clicking here: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&node=2658409011&tag=pinspiration-20" target="_blank">Amazon Cloud Player</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />.<br />
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I now can comparison shop between the two. Both stores offer free music. iTunes offers the free song of the week and Amazon has lots of free music. Currently on this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-feature_browse-bin=625151011&field-price=-1&linkCode=ur2&node=163856011&page=1&pf_rd_i=163856011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=1407443102&pf_rd_r=1HRGG554NHS90A4NPKPC&pf_rd_s=center-14&pf_rd_t=101&sort=salesrank&tag=pinspiration-20" target="_blank">Free Amazon music</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> page there is over 55,000 songs available!!<br />
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My exercise playlist is an ongoing project and has been in production for years now. I have been refining it and updating it much more often due to my renewed interest in racing. (Side note, I don't race to win. I just think the whole race hoopla is fun. Oh, and the medals are shiny!) I have been making monthly lists for a while now. Each month I just carry over what is still working for me and drop whatever isn't. I'll toss in some new tunes or some oldies I'm craving. When I get stuck, I seek suggestions from my friends. I did not use the 200 songs above to create a full playlist. It was the inspiration for a few songs I've tried in the rotation. It was also the inspiration for this post to share my playlist with you!<br />
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Okay, that is all the set up for this. Here is my current running playlist that keeps my booty moving! Many of them were discovered through iTunes free songs and Amazon free music, some were purchased specifically with running in mind, or discovered hiding among other albums. Again, I'm warning you--my tastes are varied, so this list goes from Christian to explicit lyrics. If you click on the pictures, you can go straight to Amazon to preview it out and buy if you like it!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iZPZZiLzkzI/UVvA8j65_dI/AAAAAAAAEjI/9JUDAFsBWwE/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iZPZZiLzkzI/UVvA8j65_dI/AAAAAAAAEjI/9JUDAFsBWwE/s1600/photo.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></div>
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1.<i> Everybody Talks</i> by Neon Trees<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RF2BWG/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007RF2BWG&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007RF2BWG&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007RF2BWG" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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2. <i>Hang Loose</i> by Alabama Shakes<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PBKGVA/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007PBKGVA&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007PBKGVA&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007PBKGVA" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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3. <i>Gone, Gone, Gone</i> by Phillip Phillips<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A3AUHXC/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00A3AUHXC&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00A3AUHXC&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00A3AUHXC" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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4. <i>Runaway Baby</i> by Bruno Mars (This has been my absolute FAVORITE running song for over a year!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043Z809Q/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0043Z809Q&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0043Z809Q&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0043Z809Q" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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5. <i>San Fransisco </i>by the Mowgli's (This was a free song!! I think from iTunes a while back)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009X0KV9I/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009X0KV9I&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B009X0KV9I&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B009X0KV9I" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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6. <i>Little Numbers </i>by Boy<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEDPENU/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00BEDPENU&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00BEDPENU&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00BEDPENU" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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7. <i>Scream and Shout </i> by Will.I.Am featuring Britney Spears<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AAJFAP6/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00AAJFAP6&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00AAJFAP6&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00AAJFAP6" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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8. <i>How Far We've Come </i>by Matchbox Twenty<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011Z75RE/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0011Z75RE&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0011Z75RE&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0011Z75RE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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9. <i>Pass at Me </i>by Timbaland featuring Pitbull<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KXZ9SA/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005KXZ9SA&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B005KXZ9SA&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B005KXZ9SA" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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10. <i>Rock That Body </i>by The Black Eyed Peas<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BPQ10U/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002BPQ10U&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B002BPQ10U&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002BPQ10U" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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11. <i> Ghosts </i>by The Head and the Heart<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IDDMCI/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004IDDMCI&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004IDDMCI&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004IDDMCI" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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12. <i>Little Lion Man </i> by Mumford and Sons<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038BGUKC/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0038BGUKC&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0038BGUKC&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0038BGUKC" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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13. <i>Babel</i> by Mumford and Sons<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0099G7LWG/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0099G7LWG&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0099G7LWG&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0099G7LWG" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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14. <i>I Will Wait </i> by Mumford and Sons<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009A3NHV2/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009A3NHV2&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B009A3NHV2&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B009A3NHV2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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15. <i>Hello Good Morning--Dirty Version</i> by Ditty-Dirty Money featuring T. I.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FCJN70/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004FCJN70&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004FCJN70&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004FCJN70" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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16. <i>Ooh La La </i> by The Wiseguys<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TRVD4G/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000TRVD4G&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000TRVD4G&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000TRVD4G" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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17. <i>Day 'n' Nite (Crookers Remix) </i> by KiD CuDi vs Crookers<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0022FAPZ6/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0022FAPZ6&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0022FAPZ6&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0022FAPZ6" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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18. <i>The Cave</i> by Mumford and Sons<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038B9APO/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0038B9APO&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0038B9APO&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0038B9APO" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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19. <i>I Just Wanna Live </i> by Good Charlotte<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ATTJ1K/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002ATTJ1K&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B002ATTJ1K&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002ATTJ1K" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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20. <i>Run On </i> by Moby (I don't know what that soundtrack is in the picture, but apparently the <i>Play </i>album my track came on isn't available on Amazon.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZEYFOE/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004ZEYFOE&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004ZEYFOE&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004ZEYFOE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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21. <i> The Queen and I </i> by Gym Class Heros<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011Z0WWE/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0011Z0WWE&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0011Z0WWE&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0011Z0WWE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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22. <i>Da Funk </i>by Daft Punk<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SZXCG6/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000SZXCG6&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000SZXCG6&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000SZXCG6" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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23. <i>Little Talks </i>by Of Monsters and Men<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MU87KG/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007MU87KG&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007MU87KG&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007MU87KG" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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24. <i>Carry On </i> by Fun.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007B6VOO2/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007B6VOO2&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007B6VOO2&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007B6VOO2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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25. <i> Here it Goes Again </i>by Ok Go<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000THI7S6/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000THI7S6&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000THI7S6&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000THI7S6" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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26. <i>Smooth Criminal</i> by Alien Ant Farm<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EFJK5I/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004EFJK5I&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004EFJK5I&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004EFJK5I" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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27. <i>Dog Days are Over</i> by Florence + the Machine<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002F6LQCS/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002F6LQCS&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B002F6LQCS&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002F6LQCS" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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28. <i>50 Ways to Say Goodbye</i> by Train<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RI58VE/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007RI58VE&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007RI58VE&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007RI58VE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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29. <i>I Gotta Go </i>by Robert Earl Keen (Once was a freebie!!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BW0Z66/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005BW0Z66&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B005BW0Z66&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B005BW0Z66" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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30. <i>Classy Girls</i> by The Lumineers<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007M45Q4C/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007M45Q4C&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007M45Q4C&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007M45Q4C" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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31. <i> Home</i> by Phillip Phillips (Who isn't inspired by the sounds of the Olympics?? Selections from this song were featured in the summer Olympics broadcasts.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A3AUH9Q/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00A3AUH9Q&linkCode=as2&tag=pinspiration-20"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00A3AUH9Q&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=pinspiration-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pinspiration-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00A3AUH9Q" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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So that is where I am currently. This is just about 2 hours of music to cover my long training runs. It is nowhere near the 200 listed by the inspiring pin, but it works for me. Some people may not like that I repeated a few artists, but I say, just use whatever music gets you moving. Hope these tracks inspire you! What are your favorite songs to exercise to? I'm always in need of further inspiration.<br />
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Total cost: Indeterminate. Some of these albums have been in the collection for years<br />
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Total time: An ongoing project, but I usually spend at least an hour a month tidying up the ol' playlist<br />
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Final verdict: It keeps me moving, for now! Some, like the Bruno Mars song, are absolute standards on the list. Now get up and run!!<br />
<br />lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-57510585908912984842013-04-01T20:50:00.001-07:002013-04-01T20:50:41.104-07:00Pin 196: April Fool's Day PrankOriginal pin:<br />
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<a href="http://mrsgoffskinders.blogspot.com/2012/03/best-april-fools-joke.html">http://mrsgoffskinders.blogspot.com/2012/03/best-april-fools-joke.html</a><br />
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A fun little April Fool's Day prank--a homemade batch of "brown-e's"!! Love it! (And by the way, this blog it is from has some really cute ideas for the pre-school/early elementary crowd. I'm going to have to spend a little more time digging around out there.)<br />
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I spent last night at work (my "real", paying-sort of job) so this morning and early afternoon were spent sleeping. Big El was at school and Lil' Dub was off at Grammy's house for the day. After I picked Big El up from the school bus, we hopped in the car to head out to pick up the brother. We were talking about April Fool's Day and what sort of funny things we could do when I remembered this fun idea. I LOVE a good pun. I hadn't intended on making any stops, and money has been tight the past month (thanks to birthdays, dental work, home repair, more birthdays, more dental work, more home repair. . . ), so I didn't have any cash on me. I have strictly forbidden myself from charging or debiting anything other than true necessities. However, one of my favorite dollar stores was on our way and we started digging change out from all the little storage spaces in the car.<br />
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We managed to pull together a few dollars and stopped in for our supplies. With our change, we bought foil, a brownie pan, some brown lunch sacks, and an Orange Crush (because hard work made us thirsty and we had a couple extra coins.) As any good crafter (or nurse), I always have a few tools with me, so I pulled out my suture scissors and went to work making some "E"s while Big El went to work on the Orange Crush. Moments later, we had a pan full of Es ready to present to Grammy and Pops. <br />
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He was so excited as we met them at the door bearing our special holiday brownies. When Grammy peeked inside and found the surprise, Big El burst into giggles. <br />
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We were able to pull it again on Pops and then again on Daddy. Good clean April Fool's Day fun!<br />
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Total cost: $3 (unless we add in the Orange Crush.) I could have put this together for $0 if I had had the clear brain to think of it before we left the house. Oh, the woes of working the night shift. <br />
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Total time: 5 minutes (plus baking time. . . hehehe)<br />
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Final verdict: I love it because it is a good pun. The kid's loved it because it was fun to play a prank on April Fool's Day. Now how are we going to top this next year??lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211444469633565463.post-45769901901212122822013-03-31T00:12:00.000-07:002013-03-31T00:12:15.194-07:00Candy Free Easter Baskets!I am not a huge promoter of holiday candy. I like baking around Christmas, I like Thanksgiving pies. What I dread is the endless bucket of SweetTarts, Jolly Ranchers, Skittles packages, etc., that come home by the handful around the holidays. I throw them all in a bucket and try to ration them out to my children--who have proven to me many, many times just how wild a little sugar will make them. My littlest literally starts spinning around after a little sugar rush. In a month I usually end up tossing a lot of the candy. I am actually tossing the Valentine candy this week. I don't think it will be missed in the excitement of Easter. <br />
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I am not all bah-humbug, though. I did take them to our church Easter egg hunt today. I will have more eggs for them to hunt tomorrow--some with actual candy in them! Those without candy are usually stuffed with animal crackers, Goldfish crackers, pretzels, Cheerios, or other items with a little less sugar. <br />
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Our budget is tight this year. I did not really want to spend a lot of money on candy that would get tossed in a month or on trinkets that will break easily. I don't have a ton to spend on big ticket items. I thought it through and decided to buy stuff on my grocery list (or a near future grocery list) and make them a bit more festive and fun than usual. That way I am buying items I will need anyway and will get used. <br />
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Here they are followed by a list of what is inside. There are a few little indulgences in there. The whole basket contains only one sugar-y item which clocks in at 4 grams of sugar per serving. <br />
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Contents: <br />
I recycled our Easter baskets from a previous year.<br />
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Easter themed Goldfish crackers: Since they got them in their baskets this year I didn't put them in the eggs. <br />
Bunny-shaped Macaroni and Cheese: Total splurge! My kids usually get the store brand or homemade.<br />
Toothbrush and toothpaste: To fight decay from the candy they do get!<br />
Book: From the under $4 price range<br />
Got Milk milk straws: My friend mentioned to me that she had picked these up for her son's basket and I thought they were a great idea! They are straws filled with a little flavoring (this is my sugary treat for them) that are used to drink milk. They flavor the milk as you drink. I figure the milk drinking balances the sugar out a bit. <br />
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Flip-flops: Spring is upon us and flip-flops are a summer necessity around here.<br />
Squeezable applesauce: My kids love this stuff but it is not on our normal list. They are usually stuck with the jarred kind.<br />
Mr. Bubble foam soap: They needed bath soap anyway.<br />
8-Pack of new crayons: My oldest has realized the wonderfulness of a fresh pack of crayons complete with perfectly pointed tips. Ahhh, a boy after my own heart!<br />
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Total cost: About $23 each. Yes, that is a bit more than I would have spent filling their baskets with dollar-store treasures, but now I don't have to buy all these necessities on top of that. The crayons, milk straws, and books were the three items that wouldn't have been purchased at all. Those together were $6.50. I guess you could look at it from that perspective that the baskets were only $6.50 on top of our normal spending. <br />
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Final verdict: When I list out loud what I got them (toothbrush, soap, shoes) it sounds kind of lame. One day my kids may look back and think this was a lame basket, but I think its actually pretty great. I think they will love it!lizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17069333353665186062noreply@blogger.com0