Good things to know!

DID YOU KNOW?

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to Pick the little 'stringy things' off it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.

Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream; then beat them.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Reheat Pizza Heat leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove; set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the food channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal; mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy; squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done - easy clean up.

Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave next to a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away Start putting torn newspaper in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants, overlapping as you go; cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... at ad! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient (peanut butter, honey, etc.) and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2 with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes.) He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material . I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ....the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh - that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very longtime (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush at least every six months. He said that increases the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that.So, I thought I'd share!

27 Weeks

How far along? 27 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? I have gained 9 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Yes, but looking at my photo is that a surprise to anyone?

Sleep? I am sleeping better this week.

Best moment this week? Having painted the nursery. Thats one less thing I have to worry about later.

Movement? Lots of movement. I am now at the stage where they (the doctors) require you to time how long it takes for 10 kicks. I barely make it to 15 mins most night. They allow up to 2 hours for a normal amount of movement.

Food Cravings? Cake, chocolate pie, chocolate anything.

Gender? Boy.

Labor signs? None yet thank goodness.

Belly button in out out? Still in, barely.

Symptoms? All the usual stuff, getting bigger. My belly is starting to itch from the skin stretching. Fatigue. Being emotional. Nesting.

What I miss? Being able to bend properly.

What I'm looking forward to? Kris coming out of the field this week. Having some help around the house.

Weekly wisdom? Be on the look out I am nesting. Don't try and get in my way.

Also the baby is now at a viable age, and weighs somewhere between 2 - 2.5 lbs, and is approx 14.5 inches.

Baby T's Room

Over the past two days I have been busy painting and taping off Baby T's room. I thought that I would share a few pictures of my stripy wall. I am pretty excited how it turned out. I am even more excited that I managed to keep Kyle out of the paint, so there is not blue paint all thru my house.

Just in case your wondering I only painted on stripes on the one wall. They are way to much work to do on all four. That's the wall where I plan on putting Baby T's crib. Then I plan on having his name in wooden letters above it.

Also pay no attention to the curtains these are the blackout curtains. I love blackout curtains. We have then in each room. I am a strong believer that you sleep so much better when its dark outside. Our upstairs is pretty bright when you don't have the blackout curtains on.

I did not manage to keep the cat out of the paint unfortunately. He was laying down on my drop cloth, and Kyle came over to pat him, and he rolled right over into the paint can lid. Thank goodness it was only a quart lid. I was also able to catch him before the grey paint made it self all over the house. I know he didn't enjoy it, but he ended up getting a sponge bath to get all the paint off of him.

Bella also didn't really enjoy the painting process. Since we moved here she has come to believe that this was her room. Every night she would sleep on the queen sized bed that we had in there. As you can see I cleared out the room before painting, as I think there is nothing worse than having to move furniture every time you reach a new wall.

Crazy Cat

Kyle's First Soccer Practice

On Friday night Kyle had his first soccer practice. All day he was excited talking about playing soccer. Once we got to practice it was a different story. Kyle didn't want to do anything.

He ran away from me. He even tried running into the street that runs along side the field.

He sat and he pouted.

He threw himself on the ground and threw a major tantrum. So much so that I had to cut his practice short and take him home so he wouldn't disturb the other kids. Lets hope that next week is a better week, and that he might actually participate. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Instructions

Since a few of you asked here are some basic instructions on how to make your own playhouse.

I bought 6 yards of the blue fabric this was 45 " wide. 2 yards of the red. 2 yards of the brown. 1/2 a yard of the other colors. I know this sounds like a lot of fabric, but I bought all mine at walmart and it was less than $30.

• Measure your card table. I have read that they come in different sizes. Mine is approximately 34" x 34" on the top. So I cut a 35" x 35" square out of the brown fabric.
• Cut 8 sides (if you want it lined this is what I did 4 if you don't). Mine measured 35" x 30". Thats one extra inch the the actual measurement. This allows for a 1/4 " seam allowance.
• Complete all your sides with whatever embellishments you would like. I don't have actual measurements for mine since I just winged it.
• Sew your four sides together at the side seams.
• Pin the roof on around the table so you can get a proper fit. Sew the sides onto the roof.
• Sew your hem.
• Enjoy.

Here is a link to the one that I originally found, if you would like another look. This one is more like a fort.

Thank you all for the feedback I got on the last post, but I will not be selling these on etsy. I think they are just way to much work to sell to strangers. I might make them for friends, if your really nice to me ;) . Let me know if you have any other questions.

Play House

So this week I found some vague instructions on how to turn your card table into a play house. Kyle seemed really interested in it, and wouldn't let me navigate away from the page. So I decided that it would be worth a try.

It was a hit instantly. Even before I had actually started sewing anything. I cut out the top panel and the side ones, and pined them on the table he loved it then. During hi nap time I was able to finish the front panel with the front door. He loved it even more. The more I added the more he got excited. It was really motivating all the appreciation that I was getting.

So I cranked this puppy out in about 16 hours of work. I still want to add some more detail to it, but you get the idea.

I still want to add a name plate to the front of the house. And make some mail to put in and out of the mail box.

I have thought about adding a flower box under this window, or some flower pots, and flowers. We will see if this happens, since its probably on the bottom of my to do list right now.

Kyle makes you knock on his door before he talks to you if he's inside. Another fun game Kyle likes to play is the big bad wolf. One of his favorite books right now.

The shiny square above the fire place will hold a 8 x 10 picture of the family. I plan on printing one off today for him.

I plan on making some logs and fire for the fire place. I am thinking of putting some Velcro on the back of them, so he can choose to have a fire or not. I made the inside of the fire place felt, so that they would stick.

The plaid squares on the sides are pockets so he can store some stuff if he likes.

If you would like to make one for yourselves, I would be happy to let you know some more specifics like how much fabric you need, and how to get started. Just let me know.

This weekend

We had a busy weekend this week. I think this was one on Kyle's favorite part. I will post more later when I recover.