Who Knew? Wax Paper!

Who knew there were so many uses for wax paper??? Katie Waldeck composed this list of way to use wax paper for www.care2.com and it is awesome. I love care2 for all the great information, current events, free cute e-greeting cards and just being a great website.

 

Back in the day...before hair straighteners we use to lay our long hair on the ironing board and lay a piece of wax paper over our hair and iron it with a warm iron to get straight hair!



20 Surprising Uses for Wax Paper

Katie Waldeck
Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/surprising-uses-for-wax-paper.htm

1. Clean a Can Opener. Run some wax paper through the gears of the can opener — it’ll loosen up any debris and help the gears run more smoothly.
2. Keep Wooden Salad Bowls in Great Shape. After washing and drying wooden salad bowls, real them up by rubbing the wood with wax paper.
3. Easily Clean up the Tops of Cabinets and the Fridge. Line these out-of-sight and hard to reach areas with wax paper. Instead of dusting and scrubbing up there, just replace the wax paper once a month.
4. Keep a Wooden Cutting Board Clean. If you are a meat eater, line a wooden cutting board with wax paper before placing raw meat on it. The wax paper will prevent juices from seeping into the board.
5. Protect the Fridge. Line the drawers with wax paper to catch any spills or grime. Replace every month or two and say goodbye to cleaning!
6. Re-cork a Wine Bottle. Re-corking wine can be a total pain — the cork expands when it is exposed to air. To remedy that, rub the cork with some wax paper, which will provide the much-needed lubrication to get the cork back in.
7. Fill Spice Jars with Ease. Herbs and spices can be expensive, so it’s great to save as much of them as possible. Fashion wax paper into a funnel to painlessly fill your spice jars without all the mess.
8. Stop Microwave Splatter. Messy microwaves are the worst! Put a sheet of wax paper over your food to stop the splattering.
9. Keep Cheese Fresh. Extend the shelf life of your cheese by storing it in wax paper, not the plastic it comes in. After you line it with wax paper, line it again with tin foil.
10. Use in Place of Swiffer Sheets. if you’ve run out of dry sheets for your swifter, use wax paper instead. Cheaper and just as effective!
11. Shine up Fixtures Fixtures. Rub chrome fixtures with wax paper after cleaning. The wax will coat the fixtures and prevent water stains.
12. Stop a Door from Sticking. Rub a sheet of wax paper along the edge of the door. It help stop it from jamming in the frame.
13. Protect Colored Candles. To stop the dye in candles from bleeding, store them wrapped in wax paper.
14. Lubricated Clothing. Curtain and Shower Rods. Stop all that annoying squeaking by rubbing the rod with wax paper.
15. Clean Gardening Tools. Ball up some wax paper and rub it on your gardening tools to loosen grim and prevent rust.
16. Set a Stuck Zipper Free. Lightly rub the zipper’s teeth with wax paper. It’ll help lubricate it.
17. Make Snow Shoveling Easier. Who doesn’t want to cut snow shoveling time down? Rub the shovel with wax paper before shoveling to help prevent the snow from sticking.
18. Protect Delicate Fabrics. Want to keep your wedding dress around for decades? Wrap it and your other treasured clothing items in wax paper — it will stop light from damaging the fabric.
19. Protect Drawers in Your Workshop, Art Studio, or Crafting Space. Line drawers with wax paper to prevent them from getting dusty, greasy or oily. Change the paper out every couple of months.
20. Preserve Paint. Haven’t used the whole can of paint yet? Put wax paper over the top of the can to help it last longer.

Joyful Heart founded by Mariska Hargitay

 

I was watching a program on tv with Mariska Hargitay as the speaker and learned about the Joyful Heart Foundation. I wanted to share the information with you, so I looked up the Joyful Heart Foundation's website and found this information to share. Women need to know this information.          http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org

 When Mariska Hargitay started playing Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit over a decade ago, the content of the scripts, as well as the work she did to prepare for the role, opened her eyes to the epidemics of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. What she learned was staggering:

• One in three women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.
  
• Every two minutes in the United States, someone is sexually assaulted.
  
• Nearly four children die every day in this country as a result of child abuse and neglect. And up to ten million children witness domestic violence each year.

But what really opened her eyes—and subsequently, her heart—was the fan mail she received. The letters didn't say, "I love your show. Can you send me an autographed picture?" They said, "I was raped when I was fifteen. I'm forty now and I've never told anyone." Victims were disclosing their stories to her, many for the first time.
Mariska founded Joyful Heart in 2004 with the intention of helping survivors heal and reclaim their lives. Today, Joyful Heart's mission is to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues. Since 2004, over 2,000 survivors have participated in Joyful Heart's pioneering retreat and wellness programs, thousands more have taken that first important step to get help through our website, and our participation in national educational and media awareness campaigns has planted the seeds of a changed awareness in the lives of millions. This year alone, the Foundation will directly serve over 2,000 survivors and the professionals who care for them. Our Vision Everybody knows that rape, sexual assault and child abuse happen. Society is willing to look at this reality from time to time, but is just as willing to forget the horrible truth about how many survivors are walking among us. The Joyful Heart Foundation is working to build a community that is strong enough not to push this reality away, a community that acknowledges the dark side of this issue, but endeavors to turn toward the light of healing, the path to possibility and the clarity of honest dialogue. We envision a community that says to a survivor "We hear you. We believe you. We feel for you. You are not alone. And your healing is our priority."

Custom T-Shirts for Scout Trip

When my Grandson's Cub Scout pack planned an overnight trip to OKC they ordered t-shirts. Some how my Grandson's shirt was not with the order when it was delivered! So, since his sister was planning to go on the outing with him we made them shirts with the same message and similar paw prints. First his mom found the paw print stamp and paint to use with the stamp. I got a paint pen to write with, but it ran out very quickly and I ended up just using a sharpie for the words. No, it is not as professional as the printer lettering, but my Grandson thought it was great that he and his Sissie have matching shirts. I used a cardboard box bottom, wrapped in foil to put in the inside middle of the shirt to keep the paint and ink from going through and to have a firm surface to do the stamping and writing. I used a paint brush to put the paint on the stamp it was much easier and got better coverage on the stamp.

 

I actually made him two shirts...they were only $4 each.

This is the front of his sister's shirt and the back of his shirt.

I did the prints like they were on the shirts the pack had printed.

If I had created the design I would have make the prints

going UP on the front

and DOWN on the back...oh well...

 

Peach Dump Cake

Peach Dump Cake

 

1 large can crushed pineapple

1 can peach pie filling

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 to 2 sticks margarine

 

Spray a 9 X 13 pan. Dump undrained crushed pineapple in to pan and spread out evenly on pan bottom. Dump peach pie filling on top of pineapple and spread out. Sprinkle dry cake mix on top of pie filling and spread out. Sprinkle nuts on top. Cut margarine into 1/3 inch pats and place on top of cake make sure to have enough margarine to pretty much cover the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

 

 

 

Friday Foto

Great Grandson checking out a horse.

Full Moon

Full Moon! Alert! Why does a full moon make people crazy?

You can ask law enforcement or medical personnel

and they tell you their business picks up during a full moon.

Having worked with people my entire life, I swear it makes people have a "short fuse."

These are some moon photos I have taken with my Kodak EasyShare C180.

Now, I know I did not have a powerful enough camera,

 to capture the beauty of what I was actually seeing.

My Mom and brother and sister gave me a new camera, but

I still want to share some of my older photos too:)

Mom's back yard looking over the creek.

 I tried to capture the moon reflecting in the water.

Wow her tulips looked great!

These next photos are of Western Oklahoma moons.

10.2 Megapixels and 3X zoom sure made it fuzzy

Highline wires and poles often get in my way.



Beware of crazy things during a full moon!

Granddaughter's Birthday

Today is my Grandaughter's Birthday...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!

 

This is a collage of photos I framed for her many years ago,

 with photos of her Nana and Papa and Mom.

I took a plain mat and added stickers and used a sharpie to write her name.

This collage of framed photos are some of her favorites, because of the photos

of her Nana and Papa who both passed away at a very young age.

 

This is a recent family photo.

 

This is the love of her life!

 

A couple of different years, I made her a really big cake.

(Note that it is almost as wide as the picnic table.)

I took three 9 x 13 cakes and put them side by side on a board

and then iced them as one big cake. On this eleventh birthday

cake I used miniature marshmallows to put around the edge

and to write her name on the top of the cake. Another time I used

pink candy hearts made out of almond bark to write her name and

put around the edge of a white iced cake. She loved her big cakes.

 

Her Mom had this Sweet Sixteen cake made for her sixteenth birthday.

It was a really heavy cake.

 

 

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY...WE ALL LOVE YOU!

 

Crescent Roll Taco Bake

My daughter found this awesome recipe on facebook...it sounds so good and really easy!

Crescent Roll Taco Bake

2 crescent roll tubes
1 LB ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 packet of taco seasoning1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce
1 or 2 diced tomatoes depending on size
1/2 small can sliced olives if desired
Sour cream optional
Chopped onion optional
Sliced avacado optional

Lay out the two tubes of crescent pastry, thick sides in. Use some of the left over crescent rolls to to make the center a bit thicker.
Brown beef and add taco seasoning.
Lay beef in a circle inside of the laid out crescent rolls
Add cheese to the top
Pull over crescent rolls and tuck in under meat and cheese.
Add cheese, lettuce, tomato, black olives, sour cream or whatever you desire for your tacos, in the middle.

Follow cook time on the package of crescent rolls, and once it's done, you're good to go!

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How to Use Outgrown Baby Clothes

I loved the article about 10 Ways to Repurpose Baby Clothes. I know many of you would be interested in this information, so I wanted to share it with you. I also encourage you to sign up at www.care2.com and be able to see some of the interesting topics on their site.

 

My "baby girl" is now 35 years old and when she was 30 I took some of her baby clothes and made a keepsake box and gave to her. I found this cute readymade box that hangs on the wall. After I put all her stuff in the box I sealed the edges so it would be airtight. 

I put in clothes made by my Granny and my Mom and some other favorites.

I also included a couple photos of her wearing the clothes, that I put in the box.

She loved her baby clothes memory box.

Her friends could not believe that her mom had kept stuff so long!

 



 

This is the article by Sayward Rebhal-

It can be so hard to part with your children’s baby clothes. They’re just so cute and tiny –so totally precious. And full of memories. How could you bear to give them up? But, maybe you’re running out of room trying to store them, and hiring a carpenter to build a new walk-in closet is not an option. Or maybe it doesn’t make sense to pack them away, never to be seen again. Maybe you want to make them a part of your everyday life, eh? What’s a nostalgic mama to do?
Luckily, there are tons of great ways to repurpose your baby clothes into awesome, useful, and decorative items. Here are a few of my very favorites:

1. Stuffed Animals! Get out that sewing machine, because you can turn junior’s old onesie into junior’s new lovie. There are lots of easy tutorials out there, everything from funky little monsters to sweet little teddies.

2. You can use up all your clothing in one grand project, by fashioning a patchwork quilt. Such a lovely way to preserve all your memories in one place!

3. To go with your patchwork quilt, you can make a few little pillows. Use bigger articles, like sleep sacks, for the main pillow portion. Then you can use other scraps from favorite clothes to create pretty appliqués.

4. Use scraps of baby clothes, cut into various shapes and stuffed with cotton, to make personalized DIY Christmas ornaments. This is especially fun if you use patterned and brightly colored clothing.

5. “Soft books” are a great gift for babies and toddlers. Try making a fabric book out of various baby clothes, with each page a different color and/or texture.

6. Another fabric book, which is appropriate for children a little older, can incorporate other parts of clothing: a page with a zipper, a page with buttons, a page with overall clasps, and on. This is a great way for children to learn how to use these different systems.

7. A low-tech rattle is very easy to whip up: simply sew fabric into a ball, stuff it with cotton batting, and add a little bell inside.

8. Fabric covered buttons are fun to make, and allow you to add a little piece of your family history to any article of clothing. Or just make a bunch of the buttons and then let your kids play with them as a sensory exercise!

9. Rosettes, or fabric flowers, are another crafty way to use small pieces of fabric. These can be added to your clothing, your kid’s clothing, used to make pretty headbands, or used in decorations around the house.

10. And finally, don’t be afraid to frame the clothing just exactly as it is. This is especially nice for that itsy bitsy and oh-so-special “coming home” outfit, and looks adorable hung in the nursery.

Source: Sayward Rebhal is a DIY remodeler in the San Diego area, who writes for Networx.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/creative-reuse-baby-clothes.html#ixzz2PE1xFSea

May Day Basket Tradition

A-tisket, a-tasket, May 1st is the day for a May basket...

 

I have no clue why May Day Baskets popped into my head, but I remember as a small child we would make May Day Baskets and deliver them to peoples homes. I can't remember if this was an activity I learned in Girl Scout Brownies or at school or just where, but I do remember doing it. I remember how much fun it was and I am pretty sure we made the baskets out of construction paper and made construction paper flowers?? How crazy is that having such an old memory in my thoughts. I ask my husband if he had ever heard of it and of course he just thought I was a little crazy as usual. But, it really was a fun activity of my childhood.

 

 

May Day festivities vary by country, but they generally are a celebration of spring.

 

One special tradition in the United States is the sharing of May baskets on the first of May. That rite can be traced to the early European settlers in America. Their baskets were handmade and filled with spring flowers or treats and left on a neighbor's doorstep.

 

 

Baskets, usually made by children, are often homemade and filled with flowers or treats. They are left anonymously at someones doorstep or hooked over the handle or knob.

The basket giver rings the bell and runs away. The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver. If caught, tradition said a kiss was to be exchanged.

 

You can participate in this activity yourself by making a special May Day basket or by using any small basket and filling it with flowers or other treats to give to a friend.

 

 

Friday Foto

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday.

Here she is pictured with her dog Izzy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

The following photos are of Mom's flowers in her yard,

 and of a couple of her bird feeders.

Pinewood Derby

Granny's Love participated in his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.

First they have to weigh in their cars to make sure they qualify.

Then the scouts place their cars on the race track.

The scoutmaster does the count down and triggers the release of the cars.

Off they go...so fast I almost missed them.

Each scout gets to race four times to determine the winners.

They have an electronic finish line that lights up on the other side showing who won.



It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

 

 

 

Taco Bake Casserole

Kennda's Taco Bake Casserole

Brown ground beef with a package of taco seasoning

Spray 9 X 13 baking dish

Layer flour tortillas in the dish

Add a layer of the taco meat

Layer of shredded cheese

Add layer of salsa

Spread layer of nacho cheese

Repeat all of the above layers until the dish is full

Top of shredded cheese

Bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes until the cheese bubbles

 

 

 

Garnish with sour cream, guacamole, black olives and tomatoes

Thanks to my daughter for the recipe and photos!