First week! Not so bad!

Okay, so I'm a few days late (already? on my first post?), but at least I'm posting, right? I might find a better format to do this in, but for now a week at a time -Monday-Saturday - seems to work best for me. Also, please forgive me as I make all of this into a habit - I didn't take pictures of everything and every step. I will include the original link as well as I can find it and give a review/opinion on what I thought worked/didn't work, how I used it, and/or what I changed about it or what I would do differently next time.



Day #1 - Monday, Sept 3rd - Jewelry cleaner - http://www.food.com/recipe/jewelry-cleaner-180133
The description on Pinterest said that someone who used this ended up with "blinding" rings... I did not get that big of a change, but they are much cleaner and a little shiny. I loved that as I dropped the rings in you could see the baking soda's reaction to the yuckiness on the rings in the form of bubbles and an acid sound coming from the bowl. I could literally see the dirt and stuff fall off of the rings. Try it! It's better than trying to take it to the jeweler to get it cleaned - much quicker and just as good!

Day #2 - Tuesday, Sept 4th - Birthday banner - http://www.thegirlinspired.com/2012/06/fabric-strip-banner.html
I'm making this for my daughter's Elmo birthday party. I'm planning on using it as a background for both the food table and present table. I chose the colors for the party first then took 4 coupons to Joanne's and used them all. I spent around $30 for all of the fabric and the ribbon and I'm going to get at least two huge banners out of it, possibly a few smaller ones to use around the house to add more color. I am using a 1/2 yard of 6 colors - pink, red, aqua, orange - in ginghams, polka dots, and solids with a dark pink ribbon. I just cut a vertical slit in the top section of the ribbon, wrapped the ribbon around and slid the opposite end of the ribbon through the hole, creating a simple knot.

Day #3 - Wednesday, Sept 5th - Copy Cat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits -http://www.saltnturmeric.com/2008/11/cheesy-garlic-biscuits.html
These were very close to the real thing, garlicky, cheesy, and salty. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but they still came out great. I didn't have garlic salt but I did have garlic powder so I added that to the bisquick mix and used sea salt instead of garlic salt for the butter mixture that goes on top. I struggled with what to pair these with as I didn't have any seafood or any type of alfredo/cheesy sauce and I didn't want to double up on the bread and do a sandwich, so we ate these with chicken salad lettuce wraps.

Day #4 - Thursday, Sept 6th - Sidewalk Chalk Paint - http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/07/sidewalk-chalk-paint.html
This was really fun for my daughter (almost two). We made aqua and purple (winging this one so I didn't have enough cornstarch for more colors). The colors weren't very bold, but they stood out really well (read, white with a hint of color) in contrast to the cement when they dried. I noticed that when we did it in the shade it brightened up quicker than when we did it direct, not sure why that happened, but the chalk seemed to dry with the ability to see more detail in the shade, weird. I wish I would've added more food coloring so that it didn't just dry mostly white, would've been a great color teaching tool.

Day #5 - Friday - hide-a-key - http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/house-key-holder/
I didn't have an empty pill bottle. I'm known to throw things away immediately after we don't need them anymore. But, I did have mint container from a few Christmases ago that still had mints in it. They were old, so I tossed them and repurposed the tin for the hide-a-key. Tada, instant hiding spot for a key! I used a regular old glue gun and put it somewhere that I'm not telling!

 

Day #6 - Saturday - Pancake/sausage muffins - http://indulgy.com/post/fbnogAQJM1/any-favorite-pancake-mix-pour-over-fully-cooke
I made these for dinner one night - you know, that old trick, breakfast for dinner when you can't think of anything else. Although, this was a new twist on it and we all enjoyed them. I don't like sausage, so I did half with sausage and I wanted to do the other half with chocolate chips. Except, I allowed my two year old to help put chocolate chips in the pancakes (and her mouth as she was helping) and we ended up with too many chocolate chips in both kinds. It was fun and she loved helping, so all in all, it was a fun experience and a fun way to eat your breakfast! I scrambled eggs with cheese on the side as well, yummy!