Spiderman 4th Bithday

Somebody turned four last month. I let him lick the beater for the frosting that went on his Spider web cupcakes. We had these guys with ice cream after our BBQ chicken dinner:

They are so easy. Just pipe the white frosting in three or four circles, like a target. Then use a toothpick to make the webs by starting from the center and going straight out to the edge.

We also had green goblin punch made with 7up, pineapple juice and, green sherbet.

Then the big present! A transformers bumblebee bike! He also got super heros from his cousins and Leapfrog tag books for his tag pen from Grandpa and Grandma. He also spent his $10 from his other Grandma (later) on a game that he found on the PS3 called the Pooyoos.

Then we went out back for the Pinata!!

Just a paper grocery bag on a hanger decorated with streamers and a printed Spiderman and spider webs.

I can't believe my little boy is 4 already!!

Easy Homemade Fire Starter - Updated

The firestarters work great!  My husband loves them. We've had a couple time of burning old nasty wood we had piled out back. (Trust me, not even the most resourceful, creative junk re-users would want this wood.) Here is my happy firestarter...

My husband wins the creative thinking award for this one.  He spotted me recycling the paper shredding and said "It's a shame you have to throw all that away. Why don't you make something out of it?" Me: "Like what?" Husband: "Like a fire starter or something."  My brain activity starts whirling so much I can hardly explain my idea to him.  I give up explaining and then push him out of the way violently to go start my project.  Ok, so that is a little exaggerated, but that is how I felt.

Or start reading here if you don't care about how we thought this one up and you just want to make homemade fire starters.

Items needed:
-Paper shredding from your paper shredder (make sure you have not shredded any credit cards or thin plastic lately because that can scratch or poke you. I found out the hard way. Your welcome. Don't worry, no blood.)
-Toilet Paper Rolls
-Water and shallow tub, bowl, or pan. I used a big plastic glad container
-Gloves (optional for the ink coming off of paper)

Step 1: Make the paper balls by putting the paper shredding into the water bowl. I had a lot of shredding so I did many little batches. Stir it around with your fingers until the paper is really wet. Take a good handful of paper and squeeze it into a ball about 2 inches wide so it can fit into your TP rolls.  Or you can make a log to fit it in the roll, but leave room so you can fold over the ends to close it in.  Allow this to dry in front of a heater vent for a day or two.  Maker sure they are completely dry before moving to step 2.

Step 2: Stuff and fold - I could not think of a pretty way to do this part. They are just going to be burned at some point anyway, right?  So, just put two balls in the roll and fold in the ends just so the balls don't fall out.  The folding part might take a bit of a tough thumb to bend it in right. you can also squish it vertically on a hard surface with your palm.

Here is a finished fire starter:

I made a whole bag of them.  Funny thing is, we don't live in the country (yet) so we can't really use them. Just leave it to us to actually follow through with an idea that we can't even use. I may give some to my brother in law for his birthday this summer. I hope he doesn't read my blog because a) it would give it away and b) I would question his sanity reading a homemaking/housewife blog. :)

I will update if I ever actually try to light a fire with one of these.  I can't see why it wouldn't work, but we will just have to wait and see!

Homemade Fingerpainting - Fail!

We used a very basic recipe I found online.  Just 1 cup of cornstarch, 3 cups water, and food coloring.  You boil the water, dissolve the cornstarch in some water separately, remove boiling water from the heat, add dissolved cornstarch and then stir for a minute until it becomes clear.

I am not sure if it was a user error or if the recipe wasn't the greatest. I might not have stirred it long enough, but it was really thick.  Perhaps it was too much cornstarch. It was really goopy and slightly lumpy. My toddler still had fun with it even though it didn't quite do the job. I also don't have a lot of finger painting experience so I am not quite sure how it is supposed to be.  You can see the flower I painted represents how goopy and lumpy it was. 

Here is my dear son giving a demonstration:

Homemade planner

I shared recently about how I found www.motivatedmoms.com.  Here is what I chose to do with my planner pages.  All I used was decorative 8 1/2 x 11 paper, decorative brads, scissors, a whole punch, and a marker.  

Homemade Planners

I decided to do the rest of the year and make a book for each month September through December.

The first thing I did was fold all the pages so it would be a true book with print on both sides of the page.  Then I punched the holes using my cheap 3 hole punch, which conveniently had a ruler on it so I would punch in the same place every time. 

I cut my decorative 8 1/2 x 11 paper in half and punched holes in them to make a cover and back. Then I placed all my pages with holes punched out on the cover and place the back on top.  Then I put the brads through the holes,  wrote the month on the cover and voila! My very own planner!

It is much more fun to get my list out each morning when it is ready for me in my cute little book. I find if I don't get my list done in the morning it is hard to motivate myself later in the day.

Here's to lists! Cheers!