DIY Weekly

Thanksgiving

Nov 012013

Nov 1

Wow it’s November and Thanksgiving is only a few five weeks away. I know it seems like a long time but I work retail and this means the Holiday season is truly upon us. Let the decorating begin! This is the last step to my fall decorations, adding turkeys and pilgrims. Thanksgiving is a great time of year to show everyone how much they mean to you and how thankful you really are.

My decorating got easier this year with the launch of our newest website, everythingyardflags.com. The owners of everyingdoormats.com are thrilled with the product selection that is now available for all of you. Many flags are available in garden flag or house flag and some match the doormats that are available on the doormat website. I have so many favorites that I’ve a very hard time choosing only one for each season. I got so excited that I had to add a house flag pole so I could have more than one flag up at all times. I’ve even picked out flags for family and friends for Christmas gifts. Who knew shopping would be so easy?

Thanksgiving Decorating:

To begin my decorating I start at the front of the house and select my yard flag and now house flag too. I also switch out my doormat at the front door to add to the festive look of Thanksgiving. I removed the Halloween yard sign from outside and added a few more gourds around the pumpkins. I left the pumpkins the kids decorated on the front steps as they still look good. Once they go bad I’ll toss them and do a small pumpkin and gourd display out front. I have a few more weeks until I have to worry about that. I like to use hay bales or corn stalks to add another dimension to the pumpkin gourd display.

As I said above we have a new website for yard flags, I am so excited to have access to so many great new flags. I’ve always relied on local retailers to find my flags and now I have a website at the tip of fingers to order so many wonderful flags. This really made Thanksgiving so much easier. In previous years I’ve had a hard time finding a Thanksgiving flag that I really liked.

As I move inside my house again I switch my Halloween mat that I had placed inside the door with another Thanksgiving mat. I have a screened in front porch so another mat is always helpful to keep this area clean. On my front door I have a wreath decorated for Thanksgiving. Mesh is the new rage and I found this picture on pinterest and thought I would try to make it this year.

I purchased orange, cream and brown mesh, and some fall beaded garland. I started with a wire wreath form and then took my mesh ribbon and started to gather the mesh around the wire wreath form. I use pipe cleaners to hold the gathered mesh in place. I went around with each color so they would overlap each other. Once I had all the mesh in place I took the beaded garland and wrapped it around the wreath. I then took a turkey sign I found and placed it in the middle. I have to admit my wreath did not turn out quite the same as the picture but it still looked pretty good. I’ve learned that you can always fluff the mesh as little or as much as you need. Some loops I made a little larger than others.

You really can’t make a mesh wreath incorrectly as all it takes is to gather the mesh and and attach it to the wreath form with pipe cleaners. When I had all three colors attached to the metal wreath form I was able to pull the mesh to make it look fuller in any area that was too flat.

As I move farther into the house I add turkey figures and these cute pilgrims I found a couple of years ago to my fall decor that I had in place. I keep my candles and leaves up that I placed in September when the kids went back to school. I also have a couple of plaques that I’ve made over the years special for Thanksgiving that I incorporate with my previous fall decor settings. I will explain how to make these in next weeks blog post.

Traveling with Kids

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Aug 232013

Being a mother of two very active children I have to admit I shudder a little each time I hear the words vacation or trip mentioned in my house. I know this means confining my kids for an extended period of time. This also means I need to start planning what they are going to need to help with the upcoming trip.

My kids are 7 and 1 1/2 so they don’t always know how to plan their time or plan ahead what they are going to want to do. Don’t get me wrong my 7 year old has a pretty good idea what she wants. However she does not realize how short her attention span is in correlation to the time being spent in the car. My little man has no idea what he wants and has no attention span so any trip short or long is always a challenge. This year my husband and I decided for our vacation we were going to be in the car for 10 hours one way. I know, what were we thinking?

I started researching car activities for kids and found so many wonderful ideas I could not use them all for the trip or even begin to share all of them with you. I will share my favorites and tell you what worked for my kids and I. No worries I will be honest not everything worked, even some of my favorite ideas.

First you need the list of car must haves if you are going to be doing a long trip. For some kids you will need this for a short trip as well. We may have scarred our son for ever going on a long car ride again, but he did have some fun things to do while we were in the car. My son is a very strange child. He does not like to sleep in the car. I know your thinking WHAT KID DOES NOT SLEEP IN THE CAR? ‘That would be mine. We did get lucky on our trip and he took a short nap while in the car so that made him a little more bearable.

Car Must Haves:

Portable DVD player
Coloring Books, Activity books
Books to read (a new book is even more desirable for a child to read)
Colored pencils, pens (stay away from crayons they will melt in the heat)
Car Bingo (I had one as a kid in the 70′s and have seen them in stores again)
Map of were you are going (you want you child to see were you will be going and were you are. This helps eliminate the are we there yet?)
Songs (do an online search for a free song list or purchase a book with lots of fun songs to sign while in the car
License plate game (I know you all played it as a kid)
Felt board (this was great for my son)
Dollar Store treats
Glow Sticks
Yummy Snacks for everyone
Printable car games

CAR GAMES:

ABC Hunt Game, see who can spy all the letters of the alphabet first. Use a dry erase board or paper and write down the alphabet. Cross off each letter as you find the letter. You can make it more difficult by looking for lower case and capital letters. A fun prize is a sucker or a piece of candy. It doesn’t cost much but gives extra incentive for kids to try to win. This is also a great way to keep kids learning.

I spy in a bottle. I found this idea on multiple web sites and co workers had told me they did this as well. I took an empty water bottle purchased rice and found lots of small toys and things around the house and made an I spy bottle. I filled a little bit of rice then dropped in a few small items like a penny, small eraser, small sea shell, beads, paper clips etc. Next I poured a little more rice over the items to cover them and continued this process over and over. You will need to leave about two inches empty at the top so you have enough space to move the rice and items around in the bottle. I thought this idea was so cute and was really excited to make it for my kids. I was disappointed when my kids really didn’t want anything to do with this. I even made a list of the items so my daughter could cross them off as she found them to help her reading and spelling skills.

Above I mentioned Printable car games I found this web site http://www.momsminivan.com/and was so excited to see all the ideas she had on her website. I recommend every mom check out this website as this was the best I found with lots of different fun ideas for the car ride. She has lots of printable games, song lyrics you can print off if you want to and lots of different craft projects.

Check out next weeks post for more fun car activities for you and your kids. Happy traveling!

Camping Tips 3

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Aug 072013

Are you new to camping or just want a list so you don’t forget anything. I’ve read a lot of different lists myself in magazines, books, and online. Here is the list I’ve come up with and use each time we pack up for the weekend or a week long adventure.

Must Haves for Camping

Tent – (You pick how big or small depending on the size of group you are with. Also decide what kind of tent you want, for example do you want the three season tent that stays a little warmer in the Fall and Spring? Or is a standard tent ok for you?)
Folding Chair(s)
Cooler (I recommend spending a little more money and purchasing a good cooler. Your food will stay cold longer and you won’t have to worry about getting ice daily to keep everything cold.) We purchased a 82 Quart Xtreme® 6 Wheeled Cooler and love it. Yes you pay a little more up front but we hardly have to add ice, even on a week long camping trip. We actually had to pull our milk jugs of water and lemonade out so they could un-thaw and we could enjoy our beverages.
Sleeping Bag(s)
Air Mattress or Camping Mat
Blanket(s)
Pillow(s)
Lantern / Flashlight Pack some extra batteries

Tools

Camping Axe
Handsaw Pocket Knife
Hammer/Mallet
Stakes extras for your tent and large ones for a clothes line in case you don’t have trees near by.
Rope or Twine (Good for make-shift clotheslines) Don’t purchase the yellow rope, your knots will not hold and all your clothes will be on the ground. At the campsite we frequent the trees are very spread out so we bring two metal stakes to tie our rope too and hang towels, swim suits and dish towels up to dry.
Tarps (We have learned over the years to have multiple tarps. We have a huge tarp that covers our entire tent, a small tarp to place at the entrance of our tent to help reduce the amount of dirt tracked into the tent. We leave our shoes on the outer tarp. We also place our tent on a tarp to help reduce the amount of moisture that comes through the bottom of the tent. We have an extra tarp we pack for those just in case moments that seem to happen when you don’t have what you need.)
Citronella candles
Citronella oil

Cooking Equipment / Misc. Supplies

Propane Gas Stove
Propane Cylinders
Grate (for campfire cooking)
Pots & Pans (skillet and two small/medium pans)
Utensils (spoons, whisk, spatula)
Can Opener (hand not electric)
Coffee Pot (metal) or use a pan to heat hot water and then use instant coffee
Cutting Board
Kitchen Knife(s) (I like to use some of my old knifes and keep them with our camping stuff. I’ve also purchased some utensils from the dollar store and have had great luck with them)
Paper Plates or plastic plates
Plastic silverware
Plastic cups
Napkins
Paper Towels
Aluminum Foil
Ziploc plastic bags
Matches and or lighter
Newspaper or Magazine (needed to start fires)
Garbage bags
Plastic bags (I like to save some from my trip to Target and bring them along. You never know when you will need a plastic bag)
Listerine (Help reduce mosquito around your camp site)

Food & Water

Condiments: Ketchup / Mustard / Mayo
Cooking Oil or cooking spray
Cereal
Bread
Packaged Bagels
Packaged Cold Cuts and Cheese
Meat of your choice (Beef, Pork, Chicken)
Eggs
Bacon
Pancake Mix
Canned Goods
FruitWater (We like to buy a large pack of water bottles and chill what we need for a day or two at a time. Each time we use a bottle we replace one in the cooler.)
Milk
Lemonade and Gatorade
Instant Coffee
Chips, Pretzels, Popcorn
Dried Fruit
Granola Bars

Personal Hygiene / Toiletries

Toilet Paper (depending were you are camping at you may need to bring your own. Make sure you purchase a toilet paper that is biodegradable
Soap (again make sure you find something that is biodegradal be)
Towels and washcloths
Toothbrush & Toothpaste
Feminine Products
Medications (allergy and or prescription)
Contact solution and an extra pair of contacts
Bug Spray
Sun Screen

Clothing and Shoes

Jeans
Shorts
Shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts
Bathing Suit
Sweatpants
Socks
Undergarments
Shower Shoes
Tennis Shoes
Sandals
Hiking boots

Camping Tips 2

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Jul 192013

If you read last weeks post you got your first dose of camping tips, I have more for you this week.

MOSQUITO’S

It’s prime time for mosquito and not everyone likes to use bug spray. You can always have tike torches and citronella candles around but here is a trick that I’ve used multiple times and it really works. Purchase Listerine at your local store and pour it around your campsite or the area that you are sitting in if your site is to big. Mosquito do not like the smell of the Listerine so they avoid it. Also putting a dryer sheet in your pocket works. I love these ideas especially when you have small kids around.

Last summer when my son was 8 months old we went camping and it was prime mosquito season so I purchased California Baby natural bug repellent at my local Target. I was drawn to this product since it was natural and deet free. I know these two things don’t always mean much but this product seems to be legit and my son didn’t break out and it kept mosquito away when we were away from the campsite and I couldn’t get a dryer sheet in his shorts since he didn’t have pockets.

FIRST AID

At some point in time we all get a bug bite and it itches like crazy. Of course with it being summer their are tons of ‘news feeds’ about how to handle a bug bite. This one caught my eye and I thought it would be a good one to share with all of you. I have not yet had a bug bit to try it on but I’m sure I will before the summer is over. Heat a spoon under hot tap water and press it onto the spot. The heat will destroy the protein that caused the reaction and the itching will stop.

Splinters are part of life and when you’re camping you don’t always have shoes on and you don’t always watch were your walking, kids and adults are guilty of this. I found this trick and it seems to work pretty good. Remove a splinter easily by applying a paste of baking soda and water, then waiting several minutes for the splinter to pop out of the skin. You want your paste to be pretty thick so add small amounts of water to get it right. Your kids and your non headache will thank you since you did not have to endure screams and no your hurting me……why are you doing this and all the other phrases.

What to do if you or your pet has a tick.

Protect your hands with latex gloves if possible (a tissue will do if you’re in a pinch) and use tweezers to grab the tick as close to the skin as possible.
Gently pull it out (in a slow, straight up motion, not squeezing, twisting or yanking).
If it’s too small to grab hold of, try brushing it out with the edge of a heavy plastic card (like a credit card): Push the edge of the card into your flesh near the head then sweep out with pressure focused on the area underneath the insect. Some believe this is the safest method because there’s no danger of squeezing it so hard that it releases bacteria (which transmits disease).
Important: You don’t want to apply too much pressure to the body or squeeze too hard since this can cause more bacteria or saliva to be released (or worse by bursting the insect).
Once you’ve got it out: Wash the bite area with soap and water then dab tea tree oil or rubbing alcohol over bite (or any topical antiseptic). Wash your hands with soap and water.
What happens if it broke off in your body? Try picking out any mouth parts left behind with a sterilized needle, parts will be near the surface of the flesh so there’s no need to dig deep. Be aware that this can cause infection if the needle isn’t sterilized properly, a doctor is the best bet for this if you aren’t confident.

ORGANIZATION

My husband tells me daily I am to anal and need to chill out but let me tell you these ideas for staying organized for your camping trip. I’m sure you will love them as much as I do. And maybe my type A personality will rub off on you too. So on one of my trips to the Dollar store they had a bunch of kitchen utensils and storage items displayed at the front as you walked in. I stopped just to see what they had and was amazed when I saw a shoe holder with some kitchen utensils by it. I was so excited when I realized what this could do for our camping trips. Now we hang our shoe rack from our canopies tent were we have out portable stove and table set up. We are able to store all our cooking utensils and spices right in the pockets and always have easy access to them. The best part is they are off the ground and the picnic tables so you get less bugs and have less clutter to deal with. I also like not having to dig for missing utensils each meal. It’s also another great place to store matches so they do not get wet or lost. I like to use one of top pouches so they are out of reach of curious fingers.

The other thing we do is use plastic storage totes for almost everything. I know I mentioned this briefly in the last post to store food inside. But we also have one for plates, pans, cups, tin foil, plastic bags, trash bags, clothes pins and so much more. This tote stays outside near the picnic table as well so it close by for meal times. Non perishable food goes in a second tote. Chips, canned goods, crackers, beef jerky, etc. We get more room in the tent and don’t have to worry about our things getting wet or buggy. It also makes clean up a breeze, just pick up the totes and your done. Usually by the end of the camping trip the food tote is empty so dirty clothes go inside this tote and right to the wash machine when we get home.

Camping Tips

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Jul 122013

Summer is here and that means it’s time to go camping. My family and I love to camp. Don’t get me wrong we do still use some modern day technology, but it’s still fun to tent camp and use the open fire to cook. I’ve found some great tips online and found some of my own over the years. Have a great camping season.

Food Tips over the open fire:

For my family and I it never fails that when camping you have to eat 3 meals no matter what and have snacks. We like to say it’s the fresh air that makes us hungry but I really think it’s because we don’t have all the modern day technology to occupy our minds and make us forget to eat. So I’m going to share some great over the fire food ideas for your next camping trip.

Breakfast Ideas:

This first one we have done many times over the years. Take a sandwich size zip lock bag and crack open an egg or two, or three. Add shredded cheese, onion, peppers, mushrooms, olives, or whatever goodies you want to the bag and shake it up. You are about to make the best omelet ever. You will need to bring a large pot and bring the water to a boil. Drop the bags into the boiling water and let them boil until they are cooked to your liking. We like to do the sandwich size bags so we can all have different goodies in our omelets and it cuts down on the cooking time. If you decide to use a larger bag it will take longer to cook.

Breakfast idea number two I just recently found online but have not been able to try it personally to see how it works. Here is what you need: Bacon, eggs, and brown paper bags. Sounds crazy I know but those of us who cook over open firers are a little crazy. Step one line the bottom of the paper bag with thick pieces of bacon. You want the bacon to wrap up the sides of the bag slightly as well. Crack the number of eggs you want over the bacon. Fold the bag down a couple of times so the steam can stay inside the bag. Place the bag on the grate over the campfire. You will need to have the grate down before the fire gets to hot. I don’t want anyone to burn themselves. Your eggs are done once the grease makes it about half way up the bag. Use tongs to pull the bag off the fire and very carefully open the bag. Remember some steam will have built up inside. You now have another delicious meal to enjoy.

Lunch or Dinner on the fire:

When my husband was in boyscout he would go camping and they would make hobo meals. It is so easy and fun to make at home on the grill too. First get your fire nice and hot and again place the grate over the fire. Take a large piece of tin foil and spray it with cooking spray. Take ground meat of your choice and sprinkle in the middle of the foil.

Here is a list of all the things we like to add to ours.

Corn
Green Beans
Potatoes
Onion white/red
Peppers
Mushrooms
Olives
Season Salt
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper

This is just some ideas to get you going on making your own creation. You then “wrap” the foil so nothing falls out. We have found it works best to tear off a second piece of foil the same size as the first one and seal each end as tightly as possible. You want to leave a little air inside but not too much. We also mark each one with a sharpie marker so we know who’s meal is who’s. This works great when we camp with multiple families.

Silly Camping Tips we have learned over the years:

So we are old fashion and still like to tent camp. However we do like to get the electrical outlet at our campsite so we don’t have to go 100% no modern day technology. We have two kids so sometimes you still have to have certain things around all the time. Last summer our son was 8 months old when we camped and was of course still drinking formula and eating baby food. As any parent knows you seem to always have some of both left when you have no refrigerator to store it in. We have an old college frig that took the camping trip with us. It worked great so we could keep our cold stuff refrigerated and didn’t waste a ton of formula and baby food meal to meal. It also helped cut down on the cost of ice. Of course our college frig is not supper large but it was great to store some lunch meat and Hershey’s for our s’more.

My husband and I have loved to camp since before we were married, however we are not spring chickens any more and can’t sleep on the hard ground for more than one night and still be able to walk the next day. So bring our blow up mattress. It’s great we throw sheets on and we’re ready to go. If it’s cool at night we can toss a sleeping bag over the top and you have your own cocoon.

We started to store all of our food in a plastic storage tote that did not need to stay cool. This kept bugs and animals out and we didn’t have to keep it in our tent. We place it under a tree or in shade so the food doesn’t cook in the sun all day. I love this idea since we have gotten ants in our tent more times having food there. Plus you don’t have to open the tent every time you need something.

I hope my silly tips help your next camping trip be more enjoyable and a little easier. Have a safe and fun camping season.

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