Gone But Not Forgotten

My daughters had a sleepover at their cousin's house this week.  I had forgotten how quickly you can clean a house, when you have no children. Let me rephrase that, how quickly you can do anything.  You can shop, clean, prepare dinner, clean-up dinner and have time and energy to do almost anything. Not to mention that your house stays clean for longer than 10 minutes.  I love my children and missed them, but daily chores didn't seem like chores while they were gone. Dinner, laundry, and cleaning were very simple while they were gone. No complaints about what was being served for dinner, no arguments over who is setting or clearing the table.  I'm thinking that empty nest thing will be a dream. To be able to do what you want, when you want without commplaints is such a treat. And then it happened, I opened the door to my daughter's closet and all those things I asked her to put away fell out onto my feet.

DIY Grout Cleaner

I have been meaning to clean the floor grout in the bathrooms for a while, but something more fun is always happening. Pinterest had a Pin for grout cleaner, so no better time than today. The problem with DIY is you "do it yourself" unless you can find someone to do it for you.

The cleaner consists of 3/4 c baking soda and 1/4 c bleach mixed together.  Scrub the grout with an old tooth brush and wipe with a wet cloth. This made enough for me to clean two bathroom floors. I was a little discouraged at first because I didn't seem to notice a difference.  Then the grout started to dry and the magic happened.  The photos really do not do it justice.


Before



After




This floor has a light grey grout so the clean is not as noticeable.



Before



After

I am hoping I will be motivated to do the kitchen and hallways soon, but I am just waiting for my brain to come back after breathing all those bleach fumes.

Older and Wiser

I am another year older and I think wiser.  August 6th is my birthday.  I celebrated with my family over the weekend.  Mom asked me to make the cake.  Yes, my mother asked me to make my own birthday cake for the second year in a row. Before you start thinking that my Mom is a terrible person, I need to explain that my Mom has had a series of mini strokes over the past two years and things just have not been the same ever since and probably never will be again. Do not ask me why she could not purchase a cake from a bakery for the occasion, she loves to shop. It probably never occurred to her that asking me to make my own cake was a rude thing to ask, because I make cakes for all the family birthdays.  The human brain is a funny thing after a stroke, sometimes it processes data and sometimes you wonder if it is working at all.

I did make my cake this year, but not without complaining about it.  My daughters decided they wanted to help, so it became a mother daughter project.  I let my daughters have free reign over the decorating and I did the baking. I knew that at least the cake would taste great, even if it looked disgusting. In case you were wondering, the cake was lemon poppy seed with a lemon curd filling and topped with lemon butter cream. The cake looked pretty good for the first decorating attempt of a 9 and 10 year old and the taste was out of this world.

This was one of my favorite birthdays.  It started out with me feeling sorry for myself, because my Mom was having me make my own cake, but I have the great memory of the beautiful cake my daughters created in love. I miss my old Mom and wish I could have her back, but I think she gave me the best gift ever this year.  I can’t wait for my next cake.

Gleaming Silver Without The Work

I had some very tarnished sterling silver pieces at my house, so I decided it was time to try another Pinterest Pin.  This one involves lining your kitchen sink with aluminum foil  (it may be less expensive to buy silver cleaner/polish). You then add 1/2 c salt (kosher salt works too) and 1/2 c baking soda to the sink.  Pour in boiling water to cover the items and let them sit in the sink for 30 minutes. Rinse the items and they should be beautiful.  If the tarnish is really bad you may have to do some polishing.

As you can see from this photo my silver candlesticks looked like they belonged in a haunted house.   The second photo is not perfect, but a definite improvement.  I also tried this magic with some silver earrings that were tarnished.  This time I used a glass pan lined with aluminum foil, because I had visions of earrings stuck in the garbage disposal.



BEFORE



AFTER

This was a lot of fun. I felt like a mad scientist conducting an experiment, (insert evil laugh). The hardest part of this experiment, if you are an impatient person, is waiting 30 minutes.

Let me know if there is a Pinterest Pin you would like me to try out for you.



Julie's Jambalaya

Everyone needs a quick meal recipe for when life gets crazy.  School will be starting soon and so will the craziness.  Jambalaya, my go to dish when life is busy.  Jambalaya is a one dish meal that is quick, easy, inexpensive, and my whole family will eat it, if I leave out the shrimp. Just add a salad and you have the perfect meal. Jambalaya is my comfort food and brings back memories of my before children vacation to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. You may want to turn on some jazz, mix up a Hurricane and put on a beaded necklace to make dinner festive.

JAMBALAYA

1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 medium green pepper, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3 T olive oil or vegetable oil

1 lb fresh or frozen shrimp (in shells)

1 cup uncooked regular white rice

2 c chicken broth

1/8 t pepper

1/8 t ground thyme

3 shakes of red pepper hot sauce (Franks or Tabasco)

1 bay leaf, crumbled

1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1/2 pound fully cooked smoked sausage, sliced in bite size pieces (increase to 1 lb if you omit the shrimp)

Cook and stir onion, green pepper, garlic and 2 T of oil in a Dutch oven over low heat 3 minutes. Add shrimp.  Cook, stirring frequently, until shrimp is pink, about 5 minutes. Remove shrimp mixture; reserve.

Cook remaining 1 T oil and the rice in Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until rice is light brown, about 10 minutes.  Stir in chicken broth, pepper, thyme, pepper sauce, bay leaf, tomatoes, and sausage.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 15 minutes.  Stir in shrimp.  Cover and cook until shrimp is hot. Remove bay leaf.   Makes 6 servings.

Two Flops and a Gold Pillow

You may have seen the tutorial about the no sew pillow cover on Pinterest.  I saw it and Pinned it.  The gold fabric was in the basement and I used an old throw pillow for the form.  Next time I will do this to keep with fabric I really like. http://decorate.tipjunkie.com/how-to-make-a-no-sew-pillow-cover-no-sew/

Next on the list was the Brownie in a Mug.  What a great idea! When the craving for a brownie strikes you just mix this up and you have your own personal, hot from the microwave brownie. This brownie tastes great, if you have no taste buds! It feels like hot, chocolate, play dough in your mouth.  I promptly threw the rest of the brownie in the trash. http://blog.gopromos.com/how-to-make-brownie-in-a-mug/

I still am trying to cut those wine bottles.  I am disappointed that I have not been able to master the string and acetone cutting of glass for the wine bottle wind chime and wine bottle hurricane.

Enjoying the Weekend

My daughters were away for the weekend, so it was the perfect opportunity to try some Pinterest Pins.

1.  I painted my front door with an eye popping color for curb appeal.   
2. Made the Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake
3. Tried cutting a wine bottle with string

My front door is now Cranberry. I would rather have a new door, but this will do for now.


I baked the Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake that I pinned several months ago.  The cake is delicious and is as close as you will get to a Cinnabon without going to the mall. The cinnamon filling has the gooey texture that sticks to your fork and probably your arteries.





http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/02/cinnabon-cinnamon-roll-cake-recipe.html

Cutting wine bottles with a string was third on the list.  I pinned this so I could make this really artsy wind chime from wine bottles.  The wine bottle cutting videos are all over the Internet and Pinterest. I was worried that this project would end with a trip to the emergency room, but it did not.  It looked really easy, but as you can see I am still without my wind chime. I will continue working on this project. The bottle I used was imported from Germany, maybe I will try a domestic wine and have better luck.