Healthy summer snack

My daughter loves parfaits.....but they can get pricey if purchasing individually! I decided to make use of an hour and cut fruit to make it easy for my family to grab and go. While I was cutting, it dawned on me that I can make parfaits at home!!! Mind blown, right?! After cutting fruit and placing in individual large mason jars, I put yogurt in small mason jars and put lids. We can now grab the jar (with the yogurt conveniently in there) and add the fruit, buffet style! Get creative and add toppings!

Hope you enjoy this easy summer treat! 

Dr. Seuss' Birthday: easy classroom idea

It's Dr. Seuss' Birthday!!! We wanted to do something cute for my daughter's class without a big to-do since they will not be "celebrating" much. After doing research on Pinterest, I came upon this poem. 

Letters make words and

words make Suess books,

Which ones you ask?

Well, let’s take a look!

Brown Bar-Ba-Loot Bears and

White truffula fruit

Make for some very yummy “Lorax” loot!

“One Fish, Two Fish” swim about,

while “Horton’s Egg” tries to hatch out!

“If I Ran the Circus” I would have animals galore with a large

“Cat in a Hat” and many, many more!

Enjoy your treat and smile as you eat,

and be glad in this snack that I forgot the “Duck Feet”!

Here is the snack that goes with the poem:

Ingredients:



Cheez-It crackers with letters

Mini marshmallows







Teddy Graham crackers- chocolate





Animal Crackers







Mini robin eggs candy







Goldfish crackers in colors

Mix all ingredients 
and put in a container. Voila......





I sent it with a book for the teacher to read while the students eat their snack.

 A mini-celebration is better than nothing!!! Happy Dr. Seuss' Day!

Weird cleaning supplies!!

Raise your hand if you keep mayo in your fridge. What about a spare toothbrush and toothpaste??? Well, here are five (weird) uses for things I know you have laying around the house!!!

1. LEMONS!!! You can remove any water stain with lemons!!


2. GATORADE!!! Not just to quench your thirst but to clean your toilets!! Pour, let it sit for an hour, brush and flush!!!

3. TOOTHBRUSH AND TOOTHPASTE!!! A toothbrush can get to hard to reach places and combined with whitening toothpaste, perfect combo!!!


4. WHITE BREAD!!! White, NOT WHEAT, can remove any marks!! Just rub and watch the marks disappear!!


5 MAYO!!! Removes any water stain on wood!!! Rub on mark, let it sit for 15 minutes and wipe clean!!!

Cleaning your coffee pot

Winter time means lots and lots of coffee!!! But even your coffee pot needs cleaning.....
I drink coffee EVERY DAY and sometimes even three times a day. I like to clean it once a week in the winter and once a month in the summer when it doesn't get used often.
Here are quick and easy steps to clean and dissinfect it:

1. Make a mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts water-- enough to fill the pot. For a stronger solution (which might be necessary if this is the first time you've cleaned your coffee maker since you got it three years ago) make a mixture that is half vinegar and half water instead

2. Put a filter in your coffee maker, as usual.

3. Pour the mixture into the coffee maker where you would normally add water.

4. Turn the coffee maker on and let the mixture run completely through.

5. Discard the filter and mixture.

6. Let the coffee maker sit and cool for 15 minutes while it's off

7. Rinse the coffee pot

8. Repeat all of the above a second time, but this time with plain cold water. This will make sure all of the vinegar and water solution is completely gone. If short on time, smell the coffee pot and maker after the first rinse. If there is no smell of vinegar left, you can skip the second rinse.

Post-holiday oven cleaning

During the holidays, the oven seems to work overtime!!! That also means that the cleaning afterwards requires more! Here is a very easy way to clean oven racks without working out your arm:

You will need:
1. Bathtub
2. Dawn
3. Dryer sheets
4. Baking soda

Soak the oven racks in the bathtub with hot water, baking soda and Dawn. Soak overnight, if needed. Use the dryer sheets to remove any remaining build up.

For a full post-holiday house cleaning, call Clean Casa at 931.698.6467.

We HEART vinegar!!!

Vinegar has been looked at something that smells....until recently that everyone has a need to go "green." We have found 8 different ways vinegar can be used in our lives without the odor!!

1. General Cleaner and Disinfectant

From countertops and windows to bathtubs to hardwood floors, countless household surfaces can be cleaned with vinegar. “You can clean and disinfect just about anything with vinegar and water,” Joy B. shares. And as mother-of-two Katherine C. advises, you can use pure vinegar or a diluted solution, depending on the severity of the dirty situation: “Use vinegar full-strength for tough cleaning jobs and to remove lime or hard water stains, or mix the vinegar with warm water for a milder green cleaner.”

2. Fabric Softener

“I use vinegar in the rinse cycle to remove residue from detergent and to soften clothes,” shares mother-of-five Lori P. “I use 1 to 2 oz depending on load size. And when clothes are dry there is no vinegar scent.” As a natural fabric softener, vinegar is an especially smart choice when a family member has sensitive skin or allergies to dyes and perfumes.

3. Odor Remover

Is a strong scent lingering in your home? Vinegar is a natural odor remover. Ontario mom Jessica G. boils vinegar to remove odor evidence of her wood-burning stove, while Ohio mother-of-five Deborah B. simply sets out a small bowl of vinegar: “Remove lingering tobacco odors by filling a small bowl or saucer with apple cider vinegar and placing it in the room where the odor is…. within a few days your room will smell fresh and clean.”

4. Stain Remover

Whether you’re cleaning carpets or cloth diapers, vinegar is a powerful stain remover. Mother-of-one Toni L. explains: “Put a good amount of baking soda on the stain, then spray/sprinkle some white vinegar over the baking soda. It will go really bubbly and smell very strongly of vinegar. Put in wash and ta-da! Stain gone!”

5. Blemish Treatment

Vinegar is also a simple remedy for curing pimples. As Joanne E. suggests: “To banish blemishes fast combine 1 tsp. salt and 3 Tbs. vinegar in a bowl and dab on pimples using a cotton ball. Let sit 30 minutes, then rinse with lukewarm water.”

6. Drain Cleaner

Moms like Jodi L. swear by baking soda and vinegar for freshening up kitchen drains: “To keep sink drains clean and odor free I periodically pour baking soda into the drain, then white distilled vinegar. The foaming actions cleans the pipes.”

7. Pots and Pans Cleaner

Why spend 20 minutes scouring off burnt food when vinegar and baking soda can do the work for you? As mother-of-three Sharon G. suggests: “Use vinegar & baking soda for stainless steel pots…Sprinkle the bottoms (inside bottoms) of the pans with baking soda, put on over the heat (stove) pour on vinegar after a minute. This will lift any baked-on crud.”

8. Weed Killer

Vinegar is a helpful tool outside, too. As Vicki H. advises: “Vinegar in a spray bottle kills grass and weeds in sidewalk cracks too...my new fave.”

Bring life to your hair!!

+            

Mix squeezed orange juice and honey,

leave on for 20-30 minutes

Shiny hair

 

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Mix 3 parts beer with 1 part warm water,

leave on for 15 minutes

Volumized hair

 

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Mix one egg with olive oil,

leave on for 15-20 minutes

Repaired hair