Blue Castle

Chocolate Covered .....What???

Last weekend, to attend a family wedding, we travelled back to our old stomping grounds. 

The place where The Man and I met, fell in love, married, and spent the first 4 years of our life together. 

Ah the memories. 

There were many.

But, more than that, there was chocolate. 

Specifically, chocolate covered potato chips or Chippers. 

If you have yet to experience this delicious treat, I feel sorry for you.  You know I would be more than willing to share my loot with you, but I'm down to the last two Chippers and they refuse to leave my freezer.

Vintage Lamp Makeover

Last weekend I found this lamp for $10.  The Man very nicely let me buy it - which was especially nice because he had to haul it home for me as we were visiting family out of state. 

I was just sure I could re-wire this lamp and make it over into a lamp that would fit our livingroom.

 

The first thing I did was to pull off that ugly fabric which was hot-glued on.

 

Hey, look at that! It looks pretty good just doing that.

Next, I spray painted the base with gray primer and over that I used black spray paint.

After Google-ing some re-wiring tips, I found this site which helped me immensely.  A half hour of wiring and I had a new lamp! 

Painting Tips

I love paint.  My husband wishes I loved it a little less. Every wall in our house has been subject to my paint compulsion - some more than once. 

Along the way, I've come up with some painting tips that Work For Me - very well.

1.  Use plastic bags to protect your drip tray.  This will save time rinsing the paint off of the tray, which is especially great if you are using more than one color during a paint job.

 

Take one plastic bag and wrap it around your paint tray, looping the handles over the tray corners.

 

Wrap a second bag the opposite way and this time tie the handles into a knot.

 

Pour your paint in your pan and use as you normally would.

 

When you're done painting, untie the bag, wrap them up and throw away!

Now, I use this technique all the time, with great results.  But, it does take some getting used to as the paint roller is slightly harder to load. 

2. If you need an extender for your paint roller, do not buy one in the paint aisle.  Go home and unscrew the handle from your broom (or dustmop) 

 

Chances are, it will fit your paint roller perfectly.

 

3. Check out the paint aisle for MIs-Tinted Paint.  I picked up this gallon of paint at half price - $10.  The color just happened to be exactly what I was looking for.  MWmart has a shelf of mistints for 50- 75% off regular price.

There you go.  Three painting tips that Work For Me.

Check out more great tips at Rocks In My Dryer for Works For Me Wednesdays.

Fabric Covers All

Need a sofa table but you're a little short on cash?  Join the club.

Here's what I did:

    

I took three fold-up side tables, lined them up and stacked three cement blocks on top to add height.

 

On top of that I added two shelf boards I had left over from another project.

 

Over all that, I threw a black piece of fabric.

 

And once again, all those hours of watching Christopher Lowell 8 years ago, has paid off.

Meditation

 

Kid Art Of The Week

  

 

 

Can you tell which videos we let our kids watch?

Doorknob to Drawer Pull to Curtain TieBack

I was pretty pleased with my new drawer pulls, but The Man did not care for them.  At. All.  So, being the great wife that I am, (I heard that, dear husband of mine) I took them off. 

Now, before you go thinking The Man is a dictator, he's not. At. All.

I really couldn't find anymore doorknobs at a decent price _{say $5 or less/set} for the number of drawers and cabinet doors I have. 

But, the knobs did not get wasted. 

I turned them into curtain tie backs. 

 

Using a double sided screw, I anchored them to the wall and now they work great to tie the curtains back to. 

I have a couple knobs left over that I'm going to use this trick to make a little coat rack out of.  I may even use one to hang a picture from.  The possibilities are endless.

Sanity In A Mug

     

A few years ago, my friend Laurie sent me some powdered hot drink mix for Christmas.  She also sent along the recipe, which was a good thing as I drank it so fast that I ran out and started having withdrawls before I could get more made.

The weather has started getting colder, and my brain has started getting foggier in the mornings.

Today I pulled out my trusty blue jar and made myself a mug of Laurie's mix.  Ahhhh.  Instant sanity.

Now you can share the bliss:

 

Mocha Coffee Mix

Ingredients:

2 cups Swiss Miss Cocoa powder

2 cups creamer powder (I prefer adding milk to my drink instead of using this.)

1 Cup Taster's Choice Instant Coffee

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

 

Instructions:

Mix together in a large bowl.  Put through blender 2 cups at a time.

Use 2-4 rounded teaspoons to a mug of hot water.

   

 

Add milk if you don't use the creamer powder.

 

 

DIY Stain Spray

More than any other book I've read containing recipes for homemade cleaners, this book is the one that has given me the best results.

For over 6 months now, I've been using this stain spray with excellent results.  Just the other week I knelt in the wet grass while wearing my favorite skirt.  I thought for sure I'd have to consign it to my pile of "work clothes", but after using this stain spray on it, it came totally clean the first time. That was after sitting in the laundry pile - untreated - for almost a week. 

I use this spray for my boys' clothes and it works beautifully. Once in a blue moon, I will have to treat something a second time and wash it again, but that wasn't anymore than I had to do using a commercial stain treater.

Here are the ingredients:

 

1/4 c dish soap

1/4 c glycerin

1 1/2 c water

Mix together and pour into spray bottle.

 

Simple. Non-Toxic. Frugal.  All things that Work For Me.

 

For more tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer for Works For Me Wednesday.

 

Updated to add:

You can find glycerin in your local health food store, and at Wmart in the pharmacy section.  I've bought some from here.  They also offer it in a half gallon size for $25.  The last bottle of glycerin I bought was $7 for 8oz from my local food co-op. I pay $2.49 for my dish soap at Target.  When I make this stain spray I double the recipe to fill my extra-large bottle.  So, it costs me about $1.80 - $2 for the glycerin and .42 cents for the dish soap per bottle.  For a total of $2.22 - $2.42 per each 28oz bottle of stain spray.  It costs less if you get the glycerin from Wmart or buy it in bulk.

This site  (type in glycerin in the upper left-hand search box) has a gallon of glycerin for $29.00 and shipping only adds around $10, which makes this the best deal I've found online so far. This would make the glycerin cost about $1.20 for a double batch.

Meditation