Tuesday Tip O' The Day

So...bet you all gave up on my "Tuesday Tip O' The Day" posts, huh? Yes, I've been pretty busy lately and haven't done much blogging. However, this was something I thought might be useful to my readers, especially ones with little girls.

How many times has your little one had a cute shirt like this...

Or this...I mean, could the picture on this shirt BE any cuter?

But then they get a stain like this:

Or both a hole (top arrow) AND a stain (bottom arrow) like this:

There's plenty of wear left in both of these shirts, so I don't want to throw them away! What to do?

With these helpful tools, a sewing machine, and a little bit of time, you can make the shirts a usuable part of your little girl's wardrobe again!

First you need to decide where to cut the shirt off at. In this case, I went slightly below the stain, which will end up in the seam allowance...

Using a rotary cutter and a clear ruler, I cut the shirt off. (Note, while you can use scissors, a rotary cutter makes a nice, clean cut REALLY fast!)

Since the stain was lower on this shirt, I just cut it off leaving enough space so that the embroidered design wouldn't be affected .

After the cut.

Now, why would I cut the shirts off? So I could make them into dresses!! For the green shirt, I chose this plaid flannel fabric, which coordinated pretty well. It was also on sale, so for the 1/2 yard I needed, I paid just $1.75.

I folded the fabric in half, matching the short edges. Using my sewing machine, I sewed a seam along the short edge of the fabric.

Then I pressed the seam open with my iron so it would lay flat.

Then I sewed a long running stitch along the top edge of the fabric. I set the sewing machine up to sew the longest, most loose stitch possible.

Holding one end of the thread, I gently pulled the other end of the thread tight to gather the material. I did this until the gathered area was approximately the same size as the cut edge of the shirt. Pinning RIGHT sides together, I pinned the cut edge of the shirt to the gathered edge of the skirt.

This is before sewing the bottom hem of the skirt.

The finished "new" dress!

The fabric I bought for the melon colored shirt was a little more fancy (and a little more expensive, but still on sale - I paid $2.50 for 1/2 yard). I think the fabric type is called Moleskin. Super soft and easy to work with. I decided to get a bit more sophisticated with this one, so I created pleats approximately every 2 inches along the top edge of the fabric. Then I ran a stitch along the top to keep the pleats in place while I continued working.

Here is a view of the "right" side of the fabric with the pleats pinned.

Since the Moleskin fabric is a little heavier and the pleats leave less room for sewing errors, I used a piece of twill tape to keep the cut edge of the shirt from getting stretched out. I sewed this on the "wrong" side of the fabric with a straight stitch.

Here is the shirt with the twill tape sewn in place.

At this point, my camera battery died, so I don't have any more "in progress" pictures. *sigh*

Anyway, after sewing on the twill tape, I pinned the pleated edge of the skirt to the cut edge of the shirt (RIGHT sides together) and sewed a seam. Then I folded the bottom of the skirt up once (approximately 1/2 inch) then again to create a 3/4" bottom hem.

Here's the finished dress.

You could use this idea as I did, to get more use out of a stained shirt, or to create a "new" dress for your little girl. The total cost for these two "new" dresses was $5.34. The shirts used for these projects were 4T. I used 1/2 yard of 45" wide fabric for each one, plus a little less than a yard of twill tape for the melon/brown one. Depending on the size of your child, you might need more or less fabric.

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

This tip was inspired by an idea I gave my dear friend Devin yesterday...

It's school time once again. Like most moms, I pack my kids' lunches on a pretty regular basis. Also like most moms, sometimes I get stuck in a rut with what to pack.

It was last night that I came up with the idea of creating a menu with a list of items for the kids to choose from.

You of course could start with sandwiches (or main dish). Give 3 or 4 things to choose from - something like PB & J, cold cuts on a mini sub bun, etc. You could even offer something like soup, spaghetti-O's, or ravioli in a thermos on those chilly fall and winter days! The less picky your kids are, the more fun that could be.

Next you have your "sides" - cut up veggies, a bowl of fruit, yogurt, granola bars....something healthy!!

Beverages - have a couple different flavors of juice, milk, water - whatever your child can transport to school really. I saw a cool no-spill cup in this month's Family Fun magazine that has a button that you push to open the drinking area, and when the button is released (supposedly) there are no leaks/spills. It's called the Autoseal Kids Mug and can be found here.

Of course, no lunch would be complete without a small dessert or treat. Of course, your typical Little Debbies or Hostess items work here, but I know my kids also love the mini candy bars. It doesn't have to be anything big, just a little sweet treat to finish off the meal. If your child can't have or doesn't like sweets, a baggie of pretzels or trail mix might be a great idea too!

The night before, give your child the menu, and have him/her check off the items he/she would like you to pack in his/her lunch. Of course, be sure to remind your child that he/she is only allowed to pick ONE item from each category...otherwise if your kids are like mine, you'll get an order for 3 desserts and a chocolate milk!!

You could get really fancy and make a few laminated menus, and your child could use a dry-erase marker to mark his/her selections (that way you could wipe it clean for the next day)....or you could just use a sheet of notebook paper.

Here's a sample of what you could do:

MAIN COURSE

• Peanut Butter and Jelly on Wheat
• Turkey & Cheese on Mini-Sub Bun
• Graham Cracker and Peanut Butter Sandwich
• Chicken Noodle Soup

SIDE DISH

• Apple Slices
• Ants on a log (Celery with peanut butter or cream cheese with raisins on top)
• Fruit Cup
• Granola Bar

BEVERAGES

• Milk
• Apple Juice
• Water
• Gatorade

DESSERT/TREAT

• Swiss Cake Rolls
• Trail Mix
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Pretzels

Of course, tailor this to your child's likes/dislikes, and make sure your portion sizes are appropriate for his/her age. Try to change up your menu items now and then to help keep your child from getting bored with the "same old, same old" as well.

Hope this idea is helpful to any of you who have school-age children!!

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

Your tip today is ultra practical...

When your husband is installing your brand new marble tiles, make sure that if he sets anything like, say, the mortar bucket ON said tiles while working, that he places something like a towel UNDER the bucket. That way you won't find a bunch of swirly scratches on your tile while you are washing it and preparing to put the sealer on so hubby can put the grout in.

However, if, in fact, your husband does NOT place something soft under the bucket and you DO find a bunch of scratches, don't panic. Get online and find instructions for removing the scratches, breathe a sigh of relief, and mark that down as a lesson learned.

Carry on.

Tuesday Tip O' The Day, Part Deux

Don't forget that you left your new bottle of Avon Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus in your toddlers' room this morning as you prepared them to go outside to play.

Chances are, one of your little darlings will find said bottle and subsequently squirt about half of the bottle out all over her carpet (and herself).

If you DO forget and leave a bottle out, and your child DOES get into it, DON'T alert them that you're coming, lest they dart into the bathroom and SLAM the door shut in your face (thus spreading the love lotion even further).

If that DOES happen, it might be a good idea for you to take a minute to get your camera compose yourself before doling out the beatings discipline. Which in this case was to go directly to bed (after a bath).

That is all.

Back to your regularly scheduled Tuesday.

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

Your tip today? Share the love. Look at my sweet niece Nomers holding her new baby brother JD. I wish they didn't live so far away.

:'(

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

When life gives you lemons, make orange juice.


Because there aren't nearly enough time-wasters out there (read with sarcasm)...check out www.failblog.org. I have been laughing SO hard today at some of the stuff on there. (You can even choose to view only the "G" rated pics & videos, so that you don't see any offensive material)

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

In order to avoid any confusion, it is a good idea to let your husband know that running errands for him wasn't quite what you had in mind when you said you wanted to "have a little 'Me' time once in a while".

Or maybe it's just MY husband who thinks that?

I'm sure he means well, because he actually asked me to run an errand for him, and he said the words, "I thought you might want to get out of the house for a while."

Um...by getting out of the house, I tend to think of more "leisurely" pursuits. You know, like getting my hair cut, shopping (for something other than groceries and/or household necessities), or hanging out with my girlfriends for a little while~sans children.

Apparently to the male mind, getting out of the house applies to ANY activity that involves me leaving the house without the kids in tow.

Maybe in the morning when he goes to work, I should say, "Aren't you glad to be able to get out of the house every day for a little 'You' time?" Think that would go over well? Okay, me neither. But it was fun to think about for a moment.

I guess it could be worse - he could ask me to run errands for him AND make me take the kids...

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

This tip is actually relating to a pretty serious topic - helping the elderly, even when they don't think they need it.

My grandparents' house was always spotless when I was a kid. Like eat off the floor clean. As she got older, my grandma relaxed a bit in her cleaning habits. However, when I went to visit my grandparents' house on Mother's Day, I saw how "relaxed" things had gotten.

My grandma is very frail (like she weighs 70lbs and has had several mini-strokes). My grandpa means well, but he's no housekeeper. They have TONS of stuff, most of which could be thrown away or at least organized and put in one of their spare bedrooms. Grandma can't keep house like she used to, but both of my grandparents have refused help.

Last Thursday, my grandpa was getting something for my grandma and he tripped over something and fell. Luckily his youngest brother was there and able to help him up. Grandpa said he was fine, but by Friday my uncle decided Grandpa needed to go to the ER to get checked out. Turns out Grandpa has 5-6 broken ribs, plus a huge scrape/bruise on his arm. Apparently his congestive heart failure has flared up, and now he's being kept not so much for the broken ribs, but for the excessive amounts of fluid around his lungs.

Now, while my grandpa has been known to fall down, and has fallen down several times recently, I believe this could have been avoided. If their house was kept up better, Grandpa could have been using his walker or at least his cane to help him around. He wasn't using it because there was no room for him to do so.

Now my mom and my aunts have decided to work on cleaning my grandparent's house. They hadn't done so before because my grandparents didn't want them to. I think maybe now they know that was not the best idea. Sometimes people don't realize when they are in over their heads.

I'm sure my grandparents don't like that they aren't as independent as they used to be. I imagine that maybe they might be embarrassed by the condition their house has gotten in. However, as a family, we should have never let their house get to that point.

That being said, my "Tip O' The Day" is to say that when you have elderly friends or family members, check up on them often. If you visit them and you see that they need some help around the house, take the initiative to see if you can help them. They probably won't ask. If they refuse your help, you might just have to risk them being mad at you because you need to help them anyway. They'll get over it eventually.

Hello, Gorgeous!

subtitled: Tuesday Tip O' the Day...

When you have lovely tulips blooming in your yard, bring some of them into the house so you can enjoy them all day long!!!


I picked these in the rain this morning, and was able to catch this great picture of the raindrops still clinging to the petals.

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Well, I went for a physical a few weeks ago, and other than being overweight, I am pretty healthy. The only thing my doctor suggested is more exercise and for me to start taking Fish Oil. YUCK! (On both fronts! HA!)

I've taken Fish Oil before, because I know it's good for me, but I always end up burping up a fishy taste for the rest of the day, which is extra gross since I HATE fish. The last time I took it was before I found out I was pregnant with Jib - once morning sickness kicked in, that was the end of that.

My Tip O' the Day? If you take Fish Oil, take it at night before you go to bed (with a small healthy snack). I did that last night, and it didn't bother me a bit! I like it when I can do something good for me without unpleasant side effects.

To my Irish friends....Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Although St. Patrick was actually Scottish)

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Wow, have I ever let my blogging "go" lately. Life's been busy around here, and I really haven't had much time to sit down and write anything. Well, that, and I really wasn't inspired. However, I know how much people look forward to my Tuesday Tip O' the Day posts, so I didn't want to keep disappointing...

Your tip:
When changing baby's (particularly gross, smelly, and liquid) diaper, make sure to NOT tip or tilt the diaper in any direction, lest the contents drip over the edge of the diaper onto the floor. Be smart and use a changing pad...

You know, not that I've ever had that problem (before this morning) or anything.

Have a great day - I'm off to get ready to go out with my MOPS peeps. See ya!

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Many Some A few A couple of you might be wondering where my "old school" tips have been. To be honest, I misplaced my book of Tips & Tricks and have no idea where it's at. *sigh*

Anyway, I heard today is "National Chocolate Cake Day" - so your tip for today is:

GET OUT AND CELEBRATE!!!

Have a sweet, delicious, and decadent day. (And no, I did not bake that cake. It just looks good, though, doesn't it?)

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

A little inaugural tip-

Pray for our nation and our new president. Even if he's not the guy you would have chosen for the job. I think it's even MORE important than ever for us to pray for our leadership in this country.

Oh, and if you live where there's lots of snow - if your kids play outside with your sled in the snow, make sure they put it away when they're done. Otherwise it might get snowed on AGAIN and then you won't be able to find it when your daughter wants to go sledding with her Girl Scout troop. Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything....

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

See, I told you once all the Christmas/New Year's festivities and whatnot were over, I would get back on track with my Tuesday Tip O' the Day! YAY ME!

Okay, for today's tip, I decided to share a SUPER SIMPLE RECIPE!! Because I am not a huge fan of cooking, I love anything that is cheap, easy, and fast to make.

Because it's a new year, I have also decided that I want to try to incorporate more healthy foods into my diet. I really have become disappointed with how I look, and there's nothing that's going to change that except better eating/exercise habits. (Well, thousands of dollars of lipo probably would expediate the process, but even that would only be a temporary fix if I didn't change my lifestyle!)

Now, for your super simple smoothie...

6 fresh strawberries (I used more strawberries, because the ones I had were sorta small, and I LOVE strawberries)
1 banana (mine was a medium size)
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%, but you could use 1% or even skim if you wanted to)
2 tsp sugar (I omitted this, because the strawberries I had were very sweet already)

Put your ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Makes 2 servings. (or one big serving, if you decide it tastes too good to share. you know, not that I would do that or anything...)

I TOLD YOU IT WAS EASY! It's GOOD, too - I'd have posted a picture, but all you would have seen was an empty cup. LOL

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Wow, over the last few weeks I have been a total slacker when it comes to the tip o' the day. Maybe now that Christmas and New Year's have come and gone I can get back into my routine?!?

This tip comes from real life experience...

When hand-washing your "sharp as a samurai sword" apple corer, use EXTREME caution. Otherwise you might end up shearing off half of your thumbnail (the nailbed part). This will cause you to have to spend the next several days being careful not to bump your thumb or exert any pressure with it due to such actions causing extreme pain.

The upside of this incident is knowing that if anyone were to break into our home, I could use the apple corer as a weapon against them. I Ymulti-purpose kitchen tools!

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Oh man, I just realized I never did my Tip O' the Day last week! Sorry!!! With Christmas coming up, I sort of got sidetracked and forgot. Well, actually it probably has NOTHING to do with Christmas, but it sounded good anyway.

On to today's tip:

When making a pie crust from scratch,

DO:

• refrigerate all ingredients and utensils for at least 30 minutes before starting (or use your redneck refrigerator if you don't have room...)
• use ice water
• flatten dough slightly before chilling
• roll out between sheets of waxed paper

DON'T:

• use whole wheat flour (it just doesn't work well in a crust)
• use the wrong beater attachment on your mixer (okay, maybe that's just my mistake)
• handle the dough any more than necessary (it makes for a tough crust)
• attempt to roll out between sheets of plastic wrap (way too sticky)

Note to self: in the future, just get the Jiffy pie crust mix...it tastes pretty good, and is easy to make. I think it's also cheaper than making it from scratch.

Since I missed last week, I'll give you a two/the price of one:

When making Christmas gifts for your children, make them as you get the fabric (WEEKS AGO) instead of waiting until 3 days before Christmas to START your projects. Because if you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet and you have to spend HOURS cooped up in your room working on the aforementioned projects, you are most likely going to end up having to go shopping on Christmas Eve. And Christmas Eve is when you also need to WRAP all of the homemade and store-bought gifts. Because you totally procrastinate in just about everything you do.

I'm SO in trouble.

Note to self: email a link to this blog post to myself to be delivered in October 2009. Which I probably won't read until at least January 2010. Oh well, maybe by December 2010 I'll have my act together.

But probably not.

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Well, since it's December, and many of us are experiencing wet weather...thought you might be able to use this little tidbit:

"Here's how to waterproof your shoes and lengthen their life: Melt together a dressing of two parts of beeswax to one part of mutton fat. Apply it at night and, in the morning, wipe it well with a piece of flannel. You now have waterproof shoes, at practically no cost to you."

No cost to me. I like that idea....except that I'd have to BUY beeswax and mutton fat. Can you even buy mutton fat? (Additional bit of info - mutton is code for LAMB. They just try to "church it up" so people won't think they're eating Bo Peep's sheep.) Could I just use chapstick and butter? That's what I have on hand. Adapt and overcome, ladies! That's my motto! LOL

Have a great Tuesday.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about posting the pics of our new Christmas tree - I just want to make sure that the photo really accentuates the tree.

I dropped the ball

I totally forgot to post my Tuesday Tip O' the Day yesterday. Between writing "Dear Army Family" Christmas cards, doing a little online Christmas shopping, and anticipating my "Girl's Night Out" with my MOPS crew...well, it just slipped my mind.

I apologize profusely, as I know all (5) of my readers wait with baited breath each Tuesday for me to bestow upon them a tip that will make them run faster, jump higher, and look better than they did before. Oh wait, isn't that some sort of tennis shoe motto?? LOL

Without further adieu-

Your Tuesday Wednesday Tip O' the Day:

When stealing err, I mean "sharing" your toddler's Halloween candy, make sure not to crumple the paper so as to attract the attention of the aforementioned tyke. This will cause said child to quickly scamper into the kitchen to inquire, "What are you eating, Mama? Can I have some? I want some of that! I need a bite!"
This will soon turn into, "HEY, THAT'S MY CANDY!" These statements are generally followed by some major whining and pouting, unless you give in and give her a bite.

My advice? Eat their candy while they nap. Then they'll never know.

While on the topic of Halloween candy - yesterday during the whole "sharing" of the candy, I got a total DOUBLE BONUS. I was eating Starburst (the little 2 packs people give out for Halloween) and look what I got:

I scored not ONE, but TWO double reds. Which totally happen to be my favorite!! SUH-WEET!

VIDEO Tuesday Tip O' the Day...

For a special treat today, I decided to share a little video that comes from the era of my "Household Tips and Tricks" book...enjoy.



Now, this is not at all what our family dinners look like. I think I'll make the kids watch this and tell them that it's going to be our new standard.

After they get done laughing their heads off, I imagine they will get back to the important stuff, like arguing, bothering each other, making messes, etc.

I miss the "Good Ole Days" and I wasn't even there...

Betcha thought I forgot, didn't cha?

(That title sounds best when done with your best "Fargo, ND" accent)

It's that time again, for the Tuesday Tip O' the Day!

"De-salt that oversalted soup by merely slicing a raw potato into it and boiling for a short time. Then remove potato, which will have absorbed most of the salt."

Yes, I decided to give you a tip that was actually practical and not terribly funny...

For the funny part, I decided to do a short "not me" post (if any of you read McMama's blog, you'll know what that is...)

I did NOT let Puckey and the Jib eat chocolate cake for breakfast this morning. This is NOT a picture of Jib after she DIDN'T eat said chocolate cake.

And while I was NOT serving up the cake, I was NOT singing, "Mom is GREAT! She gives us chocolate cake!" because I surely DON'T think that Bill Cosby "Himself" is one of the funniest comedy routines of all time.

via videosift.com