Easy Spa Trick using Lavender Spray

* this post contains affiliate links*

Here is a trick I think you will love as much as I do. A local high end spa here in the valley does this for their clients in the good ole summer time. It's super easy too.

Click 'n Dig Item Finder: A Review

Disclosure: I received free of charge one Model F6 of the Click 'n Dig for review purposes. Opinions are completely my own. 

Hold the shopping! You will want to see this before you buy another item on your Christmas list. You know someone who really needs this, will love it, and that person may be you! I'm talking about Click 'n Dig a Smart RF Item Finder. What's that? Well you know how you can't find the remote or your late getting out the door and can't find your keys? Well that won't be a problem anymore with this sweet gadget!

Hacked and Hijacked

Dear readers, I wanted to let you know that recently my blog and email were tampered with....or hacked. I'm not sure exactly what happened but one day I tried to log into my blog and it was locked by Google for suspicious activity. I have had tons of robot hits on several post lately too, maybe they are connected. Anyway, I experienced the panic that I have heard others describe when you can no longer enter and manage your blog! It is scary, we bloggers invest a lot of time and effort into our blogs. 

Soon I was able to log in though thanks to having a cell phone on file that Google could text a code to and I thought all was fine again. However, I have been receiving emails from friends saying my email has been hijacked and you all are receiving emails from me that I DID NOT SEND!  I am very sorry for that.  If you have received an email that is a one liner asking you to check out a link it is a hijacked email! I hope soon all will be back to normal.

My suggestion on the other side of this problem? When we are told to use new passwords on our accounts occasionally...on any online accounts...it's a really good idea. It makes it much harder for hackers or web bots to find a way in. I will be doing it every month or so from now on. A lot of extra work but so worth it to keep info safe.

Thanks for reading.




Copyright © Family Home and Life 2010-2014 All Rights Reserved

Household Tips

Don't you just love to read household tips and hints? Tips can make projects and chores so mush easier for us. They can help us save time, money and aggravation. Here are several tips I put together for you as features from Wow Us Wednesday link parties. 

Vinyl Sewing Tip

Sewing over vinyl can be hard to do. There are several ways of handling the sticking of the presser foot to the vinyl as it tries to glide over it during stitching. You can cover the edge with ribbon, cover the vinyl with tear away tissue, or buy a special vinyl feed foot for your sewing machine. Years ago when I was trying to make a tote bag with vinyl pockets for photos, I came up with this idea, not knowing what else to do.

Save Time Doing Laundry, My Version

Laundry can be quite boring so hang with me here ok? How many times do you have to go around to different rooms in your house putting clean laundry away? How many times in a week do you open a set of drawers to stash underwear and socks? How many times have you re-folded clothing because it didn't get put away, or re-washed something because it was too wrinkled from not being folded and put away? Or, re-washed a whole load because you forgot to put it in the dryer?

Oh, you haven't counted? Well, saving time and effort is something I take seriously, so I have counted ;o)  No just kidding, I don't have an actual number but being aware of how I do things around the house and then working on stream lining the process gives me more time to do things I want to do like write this! 

Make a Better PB & J Sandwich

My mother always made the best Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. She always used Grape Jam not jelly because it is fruitier. She had an usual technique to make them that I never thought to ask her about; she would mix the peanut butter with the jam in a bowl before spreading it thickly onto bread. 

Simple Kitchen Tips

Air is an enemy to cheese. Keep cheeses wrapped in plastic tightly to prevent mold and drying out. Squeeze as much air as possible out of those resealable bags shredded cheese comes in.  Blocks of cheese that will be used for grating or shredding keeps well in the freezer, and free of mold. Frozen cheese tends to crumble and won't slice as well.

Healthier Hotdogs

Cooking hot dogs in a pot of water on the stove top is probably the healthiest way to cook them; if you can use healthy and hot dog in the same sentence that is. The process of cooking the dogs in water removes some of the fat and sodium while they cook.  If we are not throwing some on the grill for a gathering of friends and family, most of us here in the USA probably prefer to cook only the needed amount in the microwave when our little ones want lunch.

Organize Your Cars Glove Box

The glove box of my car was always a mess. Finding a good organizing system for the auto registration, insurance papers and other things I store in there, was as easy as re-purposing a coupon organizer.

Cookware Tips

• Did you know that overheating cookware with nonstick coating can be dangerous to your health? Teflon can release toxic gases in the air, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group. A light weight pan can reach over 500 degrees in less than two minutes according to research done by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. (here's a link about it)  Overheating above 500 degrees causes the surface to start breaking down releasing toxins; overheating at higher temps will cause it to break down and start to flake off. 

UPDATE: Don't just take my word for it that non stick is dangerous....read the comments below about birds!

Easy Christmas Decorating Idea

 *This is a re-post from last year.*

Gramma’s workshop has been on overload for a while now! I’m sorry but there is not enough time in the day to make the kids gifts and post about it all at the same time. I’ll have to do that later. But I did want to share a Christmas decorating idea with you.

I am seeing glass covered cake stands, cloches, and glass domes used for decorating everywhere and decided to see if I could do something fun for Christmas with my cake stand. I like to use what I already have whenever possible, and that's just what I did with this idea. This is what I came up with!

I created a little scene on the cake plate, and sprinkled artificial snow on it. Holding the cover over the sink, and using my fingers, I dabbed the top with a little water and let some drip down the sides.

Then immediately, using a spoon, I generously sprinkled some sugar on the wet area and then set it aside to dry. When it was dry, I carefully turned it over tapping gently, allowing the excess sugar to fall into the sink, and then placed the cover on top of the cake stand.

What do you think? I love it! When Christmas is over, it will go into the dish washer for easy clean up.

Merry Christmas all!

I link at these parties and Creative Cabin. 

Kids Activitiy Binder

I sometimes find it hard to keep my older grandchildren occupied while I am busy with the younger children. One day I found some free kids printables online and printed a few things out for them to do.....things like dot to dots, hidden pictures and mazes. Soon, they were finishing them before I could get the next one printed out. That could get expensive fast not to mention it was becoming wasteful. 

I printed out several different activities in a variety of skill levels and marked each level by number, with a #1 being the easiest. Then, I put them into protective plastic sleeves and placed them all in a binder. Armed with a washable marker the kids can find an activity for their skill level, complete the activity, and then the markers will wipe off  for the page to be used again. No more wasted paper and printer ink, no more keeping grandma running to the computer to print one more thing.

Our binder has grown to over 100 sheets now with educational activities added too; pages for practicing writing and number skills, tic tac toe games, etc. The binder could be divided up into individual activities or skill levels with tabs; though this Gramma has yet to find the time for that. It's nice for the kids to be able to take it outside on a quilt to work on, or to use while sitting quietly when Gramma is busy or just needs quiet time (or to finish a blog post ;) It will pack up nice for car trips too. 

Here's a good place to get started with your activity binder printables. Do you have any suggestions for additional activities I can add to my Activities Binder?

 I link at these parties.

I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Saving Money on Spices

Herbs and spices can make or break your meals and baked goods. A bland meal can be a great one with the addition of the correct seasonings. It can become expensive though when you use spices purchased in the spice section of your grocery store. 

This time of the year, we all tend to buy a seasoning or spice that we only need a small amount of. Then the rest sits in the back of the pantry until it is thrown out.

Buying herbs and spices at stores like Whole Foods or Sprouts is my favorite way to buy seasonings; at a better price than the spice section of typical grocery stores and they have a huge selection of quality herbs and spices. Locate the spice or herbs you need sold in bins or jars, and fill a little bag with the amount you want. This is great if you just need a small amount for a recipe you only make a couple of times a year, or one you are trying for the first time. 

Its fun to try new spices! I get a little silly in the spice section, because I want to have a sample of them all! Last week I purchased Cardamon, Ground Cloves, Nutmeg and Star Anise in small amounts as that's all I needed, and it all came to under $2.50....yes you read that right! Why would I ever want to buy a bottle of spice for $6 that I'll only use a couple of times before it needs to be thrown out? 

Skip the spice section at your grocery store and look for packets of herbs and spices in the ethnic foods section, or Hispanic foods section. You will find many different seasonings sold in little cellophane packets at low prices. I have used spices and herbs sold this way for years.

There are also the warehouse clubs that sell large quantities at a fraction of the cost of super markets. I buy certain seasonings like granulated garlic, Italian blend seasonings, and seasoned salt there; also real vanilla extract. Some things like cinnamon for example I will purchase too because the price is so great, but there is no way I will use it all before its flavor starts to fade. So I share it with my family, passing out little containers of it when ever I buy a new bottle. An even better plan would be to find someone to split the cost and contents of these large containers with.

You will need to have containers to put your spices in at home unless you don't mind having them in little plastic bags; I use baby food jars, very small mason jars, and jars I bought at IKEA. 

Thrift stores often have really nice and nearly new spice racks with spice containers (sometimes with the contents still in them! Don’t use it though, throw it out!)  Wash and dry them thoroughly and enjoy!

 

*This is a re post with a few changes from last year.*

I link at these parties.

I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Plastic Lap Tray Tip

I have a couple of these plastic lap trays that the kids use for eating and crafting at when there is only one or two of them over. They are really handy to have, a good size for the kids to sit at, portable so I can have the kids in any room with me, and they only cost a few dollars. 

But they do have one problem that really annoys me; they tip over so easy! And then you have a big mess to clean up or a spoiled project. 

But I have a solution for the tipping problem; weight. I throw a bag of popcorn, beans, coins, anything with weight to it, into the holders or wells on the sides and that balances the weight of whats on top so no tipping occurs.

If I don't have a bag of something around, a can of food works too, solves the tipping problem!

(See how I used these trays teaching my little ones to sew here)

I link at these parties.

I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Clean Inside my Dishwasher?

Ok, I'm not proud to tell you about my dishwasher issues but I love you guys and just in case this helps anyone with the same troubles, it will be worth it. I noticed my dishes were not getting as clean as they use to but I tend to over load it most of the time so I cut back a bit on piling it in there and my problems still continued, and got worse. There were little tiny pieces of food almost like cornmeal stuck on the insides and sometimes the outsides of everything on the top rack.(By the way, do you know how to properly load a dishwasher so everything gets cleaned as it should?)
I mentioned it to the man of the house a few times but he gave me no response, or help (which is what I was looking for) about what to do. I started thinking we would be calling in a repair man or buying a new dishwasher soon. Then I remembered about cleaning the filter on my vac, another post for another day, and how that one thing fixed my vacuum cleaner so that six years later I'm still using it. 

So, with the dishwasher empty I removed the lower rack and took a look at the bottom of my dishwasher. I noticed that while the insides are stainless steel there was a lot of white mineral build up in there that should not be there. I use vinegar instead of a rinse agent so this surprised me. Most people will tell you that at this point you should have your dishwasher unplugged and I totally agree with them! I started fiddling around with some of the removable plastic parts in the bottom and sure enough I found a filter. I suggest you photo everything you remove or take apart so you can remember how it goes back together. Also be very careful as there can be tiny pieces of broken glass that you didn't know were there. Go carefully here. 

Ahem....were was I..... oh, well I found the filter and OH MY GOSH! Look at it! It was so clogged with mineral deposits hard as rocks that water was not penetrated it at all. Bingo, I had found the problem. I was quit pleased with myself at this point and poured a bowlful of white vinegar to soak the filter in before I began to scrub and scrub.....well it turned into an all day process. I would scrub then soak, wait then repeat. I gave up at one point and got online to order a new one but I couldn't find a new one to order so I returned to the soaking, scrubbing routine. I used a butter knife to scrape it and that helped. I was worried I would break the thing then be in real trouble! 

After I had it as clean as I could get it, I put it back together (this is were some pics would have been handy) then cleaned out the holes in the spray arms (the things that spin around) while I was at it. Do you do this on occasion? You should, again beware of small pieces of glass stuck in there and I suggest you do not use your fingers for this job. How about cleaning around the outside edges were the rubber gasket meets the sides? All of this should be cleaned on occasion.  Rather than give you a whole long tutorial on how to clean and maintain your dishwasher since I AM NOT an expert but a home maker, I have included a couple of links for you that tell you how. 
My dishwasher is back to working like it did when it was brand new, didn't cost me a dime, did it my self too! Woo Hoo! You may find your dishwashers manual online if you have a model # and brand. A manual may help you with finding and cleaning your dish washers filter and other routine maintenance to keep it working at it's best.
How to clean and maintain your dishwasher links below. wikiHow HubPages YouTube (cleaning the filter) You Tube (how to load dishwasher) I link at these parties. 
Update: I now use one tablespoon of citric acid every few weeks to keep my dishwasher in good shape. All the cloudy water deposits are done on the stainless steel and the filters stay in good shape. Use it in an empty dishwasher as it may cause pitting on some dishes. Below are a couple of links for citric acid through Amazon. Yes, it is an affiliate link and I may make a small commission if you purchase through that link. Thank you for supporting this blog. 


I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Hang It Backwards

Here's a tip I learned from the Flylady. Have you heard of the Flylady? If you are living in 'chaos', need help getting organized, need help figuring out how to get your house cleaned up and keeping it that way, then you should get to know her. 

The Flylady suggest that you put all your clothing hangers backwards in your closet once a year, then after you wear them hang them back the right way. After a year throwing out all the clothing items that are still backwards because you haven't worn them.

(I intended to have a pretty photo of my grand kids closet to illustrate this with but things didn't work out that way so here's a pic of hubby's closet. I'll replace it when I do have a pretty picture)

I can think of at least one other way to use this 'hanger backwards in the closet' trick. How about helping your kids know what to wear for school in the mornings? In our family, the dad's are often the ones who are getting little ones ready and out the door to school; and occasionally grandma. With a weeks worth of clothing hanging in the closet with the hangers backwards (prepared by mom ahead of time), it's a snap for dad, the child, or grandma to pick out an outfit for the day. 

Here's Flylady's site if you are interested in having some organizing help.

Linking at these parties.

I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Make a Color Palette with PicMonkey

Autumn Nest

I have yet another online app to tell you about. Alright, yes I’ve been spending a lot of time online goofing off. Ok? I admit it. Now, If you have spent much time online you have probably heard about PicMonkey.  PicMonkey is a free online photo editing tool that I have just started playing with; I usually use Pixlr to do my online photo editing. However I keep seeing color palettes created using photos popping up all over blog land, so I investigated. Here's one below that I made from the picture above using PicMonkey. And it is very easy when you know the steps and what the tools are for.

 Autumn Nest Color Palette

What could this be useful for? Well my first thought is for painting and decorating your home; interior or exterior. Do you have a photo or painting that you love? Paint and decorate a room to match it. My next thought would be perhaps to use in scrap booking, crafting or sewing, enabling you to easily stay within a color palette that coordinates. Choose a photo, picture or painting you love and then create a color palette to work off of. You could even use fabric or scrap book paper instead of a picture. Photograph or scan them into your computer to use.

• A good rule of thumb is to always make a copy of your photo before you start to work on it in any app. That way if you mess up, you still have the original intact.
• On the PicMonkey page, click Edit a Photo and upload your photo. 

• On the far left side, choose Overlays. I chose Geometric shapes for this picture. I clicked on the oval and an oval appears on my photo. It is movable and sizeable. I decided I wanted a row at the bottom so after I placed it where I wanted it I simply re-clicked the shape to add more of them; then place them where I wanted. If you click too many, select the shape you want removed, right click and choose 'delete overlay'.

• After I had a row of ovals placed as I liked I clicked on my first oval then took my cursor over to the rainbow color bar that appeared. I clicked on the color bar (anywhere will do) and another small bar appears to the far right.
• Click on that and you now have a dropper. Move the dropper over to the photo and the overlay shape will turn the color that the dropper is on. Click to keep the color you like best.
• Click on the next overlay shape and again return to the far right color bar, click for your dropper and return to your photo for you next color choice. If you don’t like what you end up with, it is easily changed out.
• Continue until you are satisfied you have the color palette you want.

Spring Birds Nest 1

Let's say you choose this birds nest picture as your starting point for decorating a room. You want the room to be mostly about pinks so you choose all the pinks in the pictures range. 

Spring Birds Nest 2

Or if you want it to be about neutrals with a touch of pink, then choose those colors from your picture.

If you are like me, more is more with this app, so I often add more overlay shapes to my photo so I can have even more colors! Oh this is so fun and addicting for me! I LOVE color! Maybe I will start making color palettes on a regular bases and post my favorites here.

Will you try it? What would you use a color palette for?

I linked at these parties. 

Grandma's Briefs GRAND Social, Skip to my Lou, Craft-O-Mantiac, Jellibean Journals, Oganizing Junkie,  The Graphics Fairy,    The Dedicated House, Naptime Review, My Favorite Finds,  Mamal Diane , Sugar Bee Crafts, Cornerstone Confessions, Ladybug Blessings, Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Cozy Little House , Today's Creative Blog, Cherished Bliss, The Kurtz Corner,  A Lettered Life, Tip Junkie, Dragonfly Designs, Love Bakes Good Cakes, A Bowl Full of Lemons  , Not Just a Housewife, Him and Her, Sew Much Ado, The D.I.Y. Dreamer, My Girlish Whims,  JAQS Studio, White Lights on Wednesday, Handy Man Crafty Woman, The Thrifty Home,  Someday Crafts,Wow Us Wednesday, Free Pretty Things, Practically Functional, The Life of Jennifer Dawn,  Bear Rabbit Bear,   The Brambleberry Cottage,   Bloom Designs, Michelle's Tasty Creations, Mom On Timeout, Hubby Made Me,  Something Swanky, Have a Cup of Mrs. Olsen,  A Glimpse Inside, Sweet Bella Roos, It's A Hodgepodge Life,  Craft Junkie Too,  While He Was Napping, My Turn, Ladybird Ln,  Chic on a Shoestring,  Stuff and Nonsense, The Shabby Nest, French Country Cottage, Sun Scholars (kid items only), Thirty Handmade Days, Simply Sweet Home,  Nap Time Crafters, At The Pickett Fence, Craft Envy,  Funky Junk Interiors , Too Much Time on my Hands,  Tater Tots and Jello, Grandparent's Say It Saturday, Bowdabra Blog, Cheerios and Lattes,Living Life Intentionally, The Gingerbread Blog, I Heart Nap Time, Nifty Thrifty Things, Petite Hermine  The Girl Creative,  Etcetorize, Craft-O-Maniac, Flour Me With Love, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sew Can Do, Serendipity and Spice , Sew Many Ways, Funky Polkadot Giraffe


I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Desk Clutter Helpers

I’m a sloppy person by nature, but I really love to be clean and neat. I work hard at staying organized but sometimes my projects can really get out of hand. One thing I can’t stand is my desk overly messy and trying to find a note I made to myself, or trying to remembering if I did indeed pay a certain bill. I started using notebooks to help me out  several years ago. One notebook stays on my desk and I jot down notes, phone conversation info I need to keep, my to do list, anything I would ordinarily write down on a sticky note or scrap paper goes into this note book. If I am on top of being organized, I will write the date at the top of a new page to help me out when I need to look for certain information. When I write something down that I know I will need again, I mark it with a colored sticky tab at the top to mark the place.

 

The second note book is strictly for anything related to finances. Bills that are paid, deposits made, things ordered online; money transactions after they are made only go into this notebook. This one includes the dates of the transactions, confirmation numbers and amounts of transcations. These two note books save me a lot of headaches and time looking for information I need to keep but I can’t remember where I put it. When the man of the house needs info, I tell him it’s in the notebook. I try to get him to use the notebooks too, and he does use the one for our finances, but he still writes some things on scrap paper and then you know what happens!

I keep these note books when they are filled and have years of them. It’s kinda fun to look at them from time to time and read all the notes about what was going on in our lives then. Sometimes looking through the old ones I find a note I jotted down for hubby to read when he returned home to find me gone. Those were before texting days! Or a note I wrote to him when I was on the phone and needed to tell him something but couldn’t because I was on the phone. A chore list for the kids, a note about an important family event. It's almost as good as a journal.

What do you do to keep your important info at the ready, organized and your desk clean?

I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Using My Crockpot

Here is one of my all-time favorite ways to save time and energy in the kitchen: using crock pot liners or roasting bags in my crock pot.

I tell you what, I do not like to wash dishes, especial large pots or pans or crock pots that require a lot of scrubbing. Ick! And ouch! It hurts my fingers and hands to scrub. So, I use liners for my crock pot and there is nothing to scrub. Did you know that using a crock pot will save energy too? Yes it’s one of the most economical ways to cook. And who doesn’t like coming home to the aroma of a delicious meal at the end of the day.

I have seen several blogs that are now posting about making your own freezer crock pot meals. Making my own freezer crock pot meal is something I would have to do because I can’t really eat anything that has been processed at all. Something I have wanted to try for a while is preparing several crock pot meals and freezing them in a crock pot liner that is then placed in a Ziploc bag, so all I would have to do it take it from the freezer and Ziploc and place it in the crock pot. I don’t know why I haven’t tried that yet. It seems like it would be a good idea. I suppose you would have to make sure the meal would fit into the crock pot in its frozen state so I would need to be careful about the size and shape it froze in to.

At clean up time, all I would need to do is remove the liner and I would be done! Woo hoo! I have used oven roasting bags in my crock pot too. I closed it up with the raw food inside just as if I was putting it in the oven but put it in my crock pot instead.  

Once, I cooked a pork roast in the crock pot using a roasting bag, closed it up according to the directions, and used a meat thermometer positioned so I could read it through the closed bag and crock pot lid.  I have found that Wal-Mart is about the cheapest place to buy them at less than half of what my favorite grocery charges. With a coupon you would only be spending pennies per use. You will save more money because you won’t be getting take out with a meal waiting for you at home.

Wow that sounded like a commercial and it was not; I did not receive any sort of compensation for writing this.  I only hope it helps you out in the kitchen as much as it has me. Have you ever used a crock pot liner to freeze a meal in then placed it still frozen in the crock pot? How did it turn out?

***Quiz.....did you notice that I used the words...'crock pot' a lot? I surely did! Can you count how many times? The answer will follow in the comments here on Friday. Just having some fun!

If you are reading this any other place than Family Home and Life then this post was used without permission. Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved