Making a lucky clover globe

Fun activity for you and your crumb-snatchers for St. Patty's Day!

Bear in mind, these pics were taken with a crappy cell phone camera, but if you are like me, directions are clearer along with text. :)

I got this idea from Family Fun magazine and tweaked it a smidge.

First, you will need clear glass ornaments. Since it is late February and Christmas decorations are hard to find, I dug out some old glass balls that were red. I remember stripping color from glass balls when I was younger, so I went the route I knew. Submerge in bleach and water (making sure the solution gets inside the balls as well. Let 'em soak.






I discovered after the red paint was gone that the balls were also coated in silver on the inside, and instead of leaving them clear, they had a gray cast. I braced the balls on top of Mason jars and filled them halfway with ammonia. You want to swish it around a bit and then fill to the top with ammonia. Let them sit.

Now that the balls are clear, you will need the following for your mini-terrarium:

• 1 Tbs Green fishtank gravel
• Activated carbon (for fishtanks)
• damp soil
• clover (or seeds...but I wasn't patient enough for that!) You can dig up clover patches in your yard.
• Chopsticks
• Ribbon
  

You might also want to recruit a couple of cute little Leprechauns.

Layer one: Carbon. Leprechaun #1 and I made a little paper funnel to get the carbon in the ball with limited mess. Straighten out the layer with your chopstick.

Next, layer in some fishtank gravel. Try to keep the layers separate. We just dropped these in one or two at a time.

The next layer is pretty messy, but that is part of the fun! We put it in in clumps at the top, and pushed it into the ball with a chopstick. When the dirt is in (1 or 1 Tbs), poke a hole in the center of the dirt with your chopstick. This is where you will place the clover.

The clover went in the same way, gently through the top, guided into the hole in the soil with the chopstick. A ribbon through the ornament holder completed the project. Voila!

You may want to glue the top on as the ball could be a little heavy, depending on how much soil, gravel, etc. you put in it.

Bain sult!

Thrift Store Thursday....the Vinyl Edition.

How I managed to miss the treasure trove that is vinyl is beyond me. Once you wade through the Tennessee Ernie Ford and Jim Neighbor albums (and yes, albumS is what I said...really? He was popular enough to warrant more than one? Ok...) you find such lovelies as these:

I am pretty sure I had this album... and it makes me wish I still had a turntable.

I am positive I did not have this album. And it makes me thankful that I do not have a turntable. However, my cousin did have a mad crush on Shaun (along with Leif Garrett) and "Da Doo Ron Ron" is pretty much burned into my cortex.

Thanks to shows like Mad Men and Pan Am, you might think the 60's were full of fabulosity such as this. (And I love this album cover...I am crazy drawn to all things retro these days!)

In reality, I would bet the 60's were more like this:

(I love this album cover so hard. Look at the smug expression on the husband's face. Got the little lady a fancy new sewing machine for Christmas. The wife looks like she is smiling to hold back the tears, and the boy is all "HAAAAAA! You got a shitty sewing machine for Christmas! What a load of suck!!!)

Polka time!!! And what kind of polka? Why, pleasant ones of course. Yinz don't want any death metal polkas here, doyanow?

(Note that both the woman on the left and the drummer, barely seen under the accordion player's armpit look bored out of their skulls.)

David Soul....Don't Give up On Us, Baby...

Check out the title of his album: "An Audience of One". Pretty sure it summed up his concert experience.

...that I sell you some life insurance?

(This one just made me laugh because the Captain's expression is the very one that Dave has ever single time I take his picture.)

And finally...

So much is wrong in this picture. From the hair to the lumberjack facial hair. Just so, so wrong.

And an album is just no place to feature chest hair and man nips.

Ah, the days of vinyl. No chance for kids 20 or 30 years from now to make fun of album art. Then again, who needs album photos when there is always Justin Bieber's hair?

Home....it's so "Good"

We recently had a new store open in town.

Oh, HomeGoods, where have you been all my life? I am in love...even as my husband curses you.

Now, I admit, when I first went in, this gave me pause...

I'm not sure how many decorating opportunities there are for brass hands throwing the deuces, but anyway...

I am also pretty sure these could have been displayed more appropriately...

But it did start getting better, as I came across a sign perfect for the Little Kid...

Then I came across this lovely number and knew I was in the right place. I have a new obsession with white dinnerware, and this baby would fit right in at my house...

What I really noticed is that there seemed to be a real abundance of all things rooster-themed. Let me help you mothers of boys (and immature husbands) out for a moment here. A rooster theme is not going to work in your house. It just lends itself to a plethora of "cock" jokes. For instance...

Cute stool, right? WRONG. Unless you want to hear this all the time...

"Hey, want to sit on my c***?"

"What do you think of my big, giant c***?

"Check out my c***. It's made of steel."

(Of course, you could always point out here just how "little and cute" his c*** is. That always goes over well with the fellas.)


Better to just go with a cat or donkey decorating motif.

Then again...maybe not.

Random thoughts and random pictures of random stuff that is....random

Deep thoughts...

• The Kohler toilet commercials....really? Are people really singing "nah nah, hey hey goodbye" as they flush? I thought only my 5 year old talked to his turds.
  
  


• The other day while dropping Chase off at preschool, XM's Kid's Place Live played the theme to "Indiana Jones" just as the van door was sliding open. I am thinking of playing it everywhere I go when exiting the van. It just makes where I am going seem so...exciting. I might buy a Fedora to wear as well. Carrying a whip on my hip *might* be a little over the top, no? I think Dave should have this set as my ringtone for when I call him. For some reason, he thinks that Darth Vaders "Death March" is more appropriate. He is hilarious, right?
  



• I am considering starting to wear my hair like the Safe Side Super Chick. My kids hang on her every word while I have to repeat requests over and over again. It must be the hair, right?

• Anyone who grew up in the 70's will recognize these lovely ancient artifacts. Why did anyone ever think they were a decorating "do"?

• Why do teenagers go to the mall to talk on their cell phones to other teenagers who are not at the mall? Am I just too old to get it? I am probably just a year or two away from shaking my fist and yelling at the damn kids to stay off my lawn.

• Speaking of malls, is there any more heinous a store than this?
  
  

I make one trip in that store per year. I go in at Christmastime for gift cards for my three nieces. My trip into Hollister is always the same (old fart alert) .... I walk in and am immediately assaulted by 1. LOUD thumping music that is, did I mention LOUD? 2. The overpowering smell of whatever their cologne is that they are selling. It makes me woozy/nauseous/immediately irritable 3. A saleschick/fella folding the same sweater over and over, size 0 on a fat day, and with a look like, "Erm. Are you lost, ma'am?" They direct me to the cash register with a wave of the hand and what I assume are words, which are lost in the thumping LOUD music, and I peer into the darkness of the store and hope at some point I will find the register. Isn't this a "beach" store, by the way? Why does it have a "midnight at the beach" lighting scheme? I scream at the girl over the din for "THREE GIFT CARDS, PLEASE" after which I attempt to find the exit. It is a maze of shadows and dim lighting, and after wandering and wandering, I am out. I have to save my Hollister purchase until the last task of the day because it gives me such a headache. Don't even get me started on Hot Topic.

• I was tempted to grab these at the thrift store the other day, just to see what my husband would do with them. Then I was afraid he may actually do what I feared. Yeah, I passed.

Warsh 'em on the cheap!

After quite the hiatus, I am back! Sadly, to my nieces, Katey and Hailee's dismay, this is to be an informative post, not the usual smart-assedness that they love from their favorite, favorite, favoritist auntie.

Today's lesson...making your own laundry detergent. Wheeeee!

I have to say, I love this stuff. It cleans your clothes oh so fabby. The only thing I have to get used to is the very light fragrance of the soap. My absolute fave up until now has been Tide with Febreze. Delightful. This make it yourself stuff has very little fragrance to it. You can add a few drops of essential oils to the mix if you want a little more good smelly stuff. I just haven't gotten any yet.

So here's the magic recipe...and my little notes to go along with it!

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda **Important- NOT Baking Soda...WASHING soda. There is a difference!**
½ Cup Borax
Grater
Clean 5 gallon bucket with lid (You can get these at Lowe's)
Clean detergent dispenser (I used a tupperware pitcher with lid)


- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir over medium-low heat until soap is melted.

-Fill the 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap/water mixture, Washing Soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir mixture the next day, and then fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap mixture and fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. This will be very goopy and separate some from the water, so shaking before each use is important.

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil...whatever your personal preference.

Makes 10 gallons.

Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

I had slave labor helping me with my recipe. They thought it was big fun.

Here is our journey in photos:

Getting the supplies together, mixing hot water with the two powders:



Grating the soap. Looks like cheese, doesn't taste like cheese. This is what Fels-Naptha soap looks like, in case you were unfamiliar, as I was. Oh, and my local grocery store carries this soap, so I bet yours does, too. Huh...who knew? :

Slave Laborer #1, mixing it all together:

Slave Laborer #2, taking a snack break. Please tell me why I bother to wash clothes for this kid?

Here is the final product, a day later, after cooling. It looks a lot like funky Jell-o or congealed chicken grease.




You will fill half of your container with the goop (marked D) and fill the rest with water (marked W)....and shakey, shakey, shakey each time you use it. I dispense it into the glass container for each load. I have a front-loader, so this is a 1/4 cup measurement.

My next green project will be with my BFF, Becky...Adventures in Composting. Garbage and worms. What a delight.

The Lost Little Dish

We all know that men are very visual. And I like to make things very easy for big daddy, so I created a little tutorial for him. How in the world someone can get a dirty dish to the sink....right above the dishwasher, but not actually INTO the dishwasher defies all logic to me.


I figured I would give mah man a tutorial. Men like pictures and stories, so I combined the two. Feel free to share this with the men in your lives, including any children of the XY chromosome variety as well.

This is a dirty dish. He looks sad. He is lost.

He needs to find his way home. This is his home.

It is so easy to help this lost little dish. Look! You can open his door!

And help the little dirty dish home to his dirty dish family.

I love a story with a happy ending! Hooray!

Will let you know how this pans out. I am guessing my crazy silly hubby will probably respond with a smartass email....of which, of course, I will share. : )

Random Chaseisms

Overheard at a table in Applebee's (way too loud) .... "Can we stop talking about VAGINAS?"

This morning... "I dreamt of lemons. I wanted to buy them and you wouldn't let me. You should let me do things in my own dreams."

Also this morning... "Why don't you like sharks? Because they bite? I bet Daddy could beat up a shark if it bit you."

Recently.... "Why are you such a little mom? You can't be the boss when you are so little."

Yesterday... "You should not kiss Daddy. He is stinky. You should only love the little and cute ones in the house."

And my recent fave... "Mommy, you are beautiful as butter. Wait. I mean a butterfly."