Dish Sponge Curlers

Apparently my hair is freakishly thick.  One time I went to a new hair salon and the girl was so blown away by how much hair I had that she invited all the other stylists to come feel my hair.  "Yeah sure come on over and stroke my hair, that isn't awkward at all"

Because of this I don't curl my hair, it takes to long.  The last time I curled my hair was my senior prom and it took me 3 hours.

I tell you this so you can take my verdict with a grain  pinch handful of salt.  I have no idea how to curl hair.  All those tutorials on Pinterest I see about getting tousled wavy hair are comparative to learning how to speak Mandarin Chinese, in my opinion. 

Buuuuuut I was getting tired of the DIY projects I was doing.  I wanted something different, even if it wasn't practical for me.

Heat Free Rollers With Dish Sponges
You Will Need:
Dish sponges
buttons
elastic
hot glue gun

Directions:
There is no way I will be able to type up directions and have them make sense.  So if you decide to do this then I suggest clicking on the link and it will take you to a video tutorial. 

It took a bit of time to put them all together and I may or may not have glued myself to one of them.  But it was pretty easy and they seem pretty sturdy.  I didn't have enough elastic so some of them I ended up using yarn.
 

 I got my hair pretty damp then took the tampons curlers and rolled them into my hair. 

Once I got all the curlers in I decided to have a little photo shoot since I was looking so good.

In the middle of my photo shoot my 2 year old walked in, gave me a puzzled look then said "mommy, your hair has owies."

 Not only is my hair really thick, but it likes water and takes a really long time to dry. I was hoping the sponges would soak up some of the water to speed up the process, and I even used my blow dryer, but 2 hours later my hair was still mostly wet.  I ran out of patients and took the curlers out to see how it looked.

The Verdict: I was sooo glamorous and ready for a night out on the town.

 I wore a hat that day, then that night I decided to try a few on the top of my head and sleep with them in and hope my hair would actually be dry by morning.

As I was putting the curlers in my husband walked in, raised one eyebrow, took a photo of me and walked away with out saying anything. Apparently my family doesn't approve of me using curlers.

The Verdict: It was sloppy looking but I ended up with some pretty good curls. The curlers weren't that bad to sleep on either.  My hair got a good tug a few times during the night but they were still pretty comfortable to sleep on.

 A few of them became permanently kinked, but I think It would still work just fine. 

 The ones with the yarn were a lot more frustrating to use then the ones with elastic.  They didn't hold as well and it was hard to get the button into the loop.  Speaking of the loops, make sure you make them big enough so your button will go in easily.  

Basic Laundry Detergent with Glycerin

Can I just take a moment to say that I'm starting to get a bit tired of laundry detergent.  But I'm almost done.  I have one more to test out after this one then I will upgrade my laundry detergent knowledge from "what the heck am I doing?" to "I totally got this"

I had never heard of using glycerin in laundry detergent before so I looked up the reason why I would want to put it in.  According to several websites, glycerin is a great stain remover.  I couldn't find any information about if it needs to be in liquid or solid form, but I really wasn't searching that hard.  I have solid glycerin on hand and I was to lazy to drive around town to try and find it in liquid form.

Basic Laundry Detergent with Glycerin #6
You Will Need:
2.5 gallons Water (hot)
1 Bar soap (grated)
3/4 cup Washing Soda
3/4 cup Borax
2 TBS Glycerin

Directions:
Melt grated soap over medium-low heat topped with water, stir until melted.  In a large pail, pour 2.5 gallons of hot water, add melted mixture, washing soda, borax and glycerin. Mix well.  Use 1/2 cup per full load.

I put the glycerin and soap in a food processor to grate it, then I melted them both over heat.

I mixed all the ingredients, and when it cooled it had formed into a fairly solid block of gel   

,

I gave it a good stir and got thinner gel that was easier to work it.

The Verdict: One of my biggest gripes about the basic laundry detergent  is that it separates so you have to mix it up really good before each use.  This mixture never separated.  It stayed in the same gel state the whole time.  My assumption is the glycerin had something to do with that.

It also worked really well.  The clothes were really clean and didn't have any residue on them.  And the glycerin did great with stains.

My daughter split her head open and left some lovely blood spots on my shirt.  24 hours later I threw that shirt into the wash with no pre-treating.  The blood spots were completely gone. 


















7 laundry detergents tested, 1 more to go.

2 Different Ways to Remove a Splinter

 My daughter is extremely stubborn when it comes to shoes.  When I think she doesn't need them she insists on having them, when I want her to wear them she refuses to let me put them on her.  Most of our conversations about shoes end in an end of the world scenario with wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Because of this she has gotten a few splinter this summer.  My method of removal is to hand her the ipad, wait until she is thoroughly enjoying Pocoyo, then attack the sliver with tweezers and a needle.

I kept hearing about other methods of splinter removal, so I turned to my trusty Internet friend and found a website that offers 8 ways to remove a splinter, I decided to try two of them.

How to Remove a Splinter with a Potato
You will need:
A potato

Directions:
Cut a potato into slices. Place the sliced potato on the splinter, yellow side down. Hold it there for awhile and hopefully it will get the splinter right how.

 I love that the directions say "hopefully." Apparently the writer didn't have much confidence in this method.

I set my daughter up with the ipad to distract her then got a sliced potato.  I have no idea what the original writers definition of "awhile" is, so I held the potato on her splinter for 10 minutes.

The Verdict: I'm not shocked that it didn't work.  Her foot looked exactly the same when I took the potato off.

Before Potato Application

After Potato Application

Moving on to method #2

How to remove a splinter with baking soda
You will need:
baking soda
water
band-aid

Directions:
Mix the water and baking soda until you get a paste.  Spread the baking soda paste onto a bandage, then apply the bandage to the affected area.  After 24 hours, remove the bandage. The splinter may be sticking out of the skin. If it's visible, pick it off with tweezers, and rinse the skin gently. If the splinter is sticking out but not visible, this may wash it away without further complications.  Repeat the method with new paste and another bandage every 24 hours until the splinter is gone.

I don't know about your kids, but mine have never left a band-aid on longer then about 2 hours so leaving one on for 24 hours was out of the question.  But I could shoot for twelve and see what happens.

I mixed the paste, put it on a band-aid and covered my daughters splinter.  I then put some footie pajamas on her and tucked her into bed.

The Verdict: Nothing!  The band-aid was still in place but the paste had mysteriously disappeared.  Her foot was completely dry with just a few speckles of baking soda. I guess this method could work, but who wants to wait at least 24 hours for a splinter to come out?  It would drive me crazy knowing it was there and that I could have it out in about 30 seconds. 

I have heard of some people using Orajel to numb the skin before pulling a splinter out, but I have yet to try it.  I never seem to have the stuff around when my kids get a splinter.

DIY Chapstick

Hello, my name is The DIY Guinea Pig and I am a chapstick addict.  I'm not kidding, I am obsessed with chapstick and I'm always using it.  You know it's bad when, with no help at all, my 2 year old picked out chapstick for me for a present. 

 Homemade Lemon Lime Lip Balm
You Will Need:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped beeswax
 5 drops lemon essential oil and 5 drops lime essential oil (substitute these for other essential oils if you wish)

Directions:
Pour the mixture into a double boiler. The lip balm mixture needs to melt slowly over low heat. Melt the ingredients over medium-high heat. Add color Add a chunk of your favorite lipstick, blush, or eye shadow color if you wish. Mix it in with a spoon.Pour the mixture into containers. Allow the mixture to cool completely. Use the balm and decide how you like the texture. If you want a firmer balm next time, use more beeswax. If you like it softer, use more oil. 

I got all my ingredients and used a food processes to break up the beesewax so it would be easier to use.

I don't have a double boiler so I used a glass measuring cup and put it in a pot.  It worked great and didn't leave any residue.  It took several minutes for everything to melt. I didn't want color so I skipped that part, and I didn't have lime essential oil so I just used lemon essential oil.

I poured some into an old chapstick tube and poured the rest into a small container.  I could probably fill 3 or 4 tubes with what I had.

The Verdict: I like it.  It's sort of a cross between lip balm and lip gloss.  I feel like I am getting the deep moisture of a chapstick with the shine of gloss.  A little goes a long way so it lasts for several months.  The only down side is that it can melt very easily, so you probably want to keep it in a cool place, unless you enjoy cleaning up grease stains. 

Listerine Foot Soak

Many moons ago I saw a Pin about a Listerine foot soak.  Since then I've heard a few people saying that they love it.

I wanted to wait until my feet were really dry and cracked before I tried it, but summer is coming to an end and my feet are still in good shape. 

No, I'm not blessed with wonderfully self healing feet,  I mow the lawn in flip flops each week (I live life on the edge), and the only way to get the green stain off is to scrub my feet with a pumice stone. 

I've decided to finally bite the bullet and see how it works.

There are two different soaks I've seen on Pinterest so I tried them both, one on each foot.

Listerine and Vinegar Soak
You Will Need:
1/4 cup Listerine
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup warm water

Directions:
Soak your feet for 10 minutes and when you take them out the dead skin will practically wipe off.  

Listerine and Shaving Cream Soak
 You Will Need:
Shaving Cream
Listerine
Warm water

Directions:
In a bucket, combine equal parts Listerine and warm water.  Soak a towel in the mixture.  Cover your foot with the shaving cream then wrap the soaked towel around your foot. Soak your foot for 30 min then use the towel to rub everything off.  

 Apparently any Listerine will work, but the blue kind is the most popular.  So I grabbed some of that then started with the Listerine and vinegar soak on my right foot.

I had to double the recipe to get it deep enough to cover most of my foot, and I wish I grabbed a bigger bowl.  My toes were cramping by the end of the 10 minutes.

The Verdict: The bad news is, it stained my skin a light blue.  It's hard to see in the photo but if you look closely you can see my toes on my right foot look a bit sickly, but it was gone by the next morning.

The good news is, it worked pretty good.  My foot was really soft and most of the dry dead skin came off. 

Before

After

Eventually I stopped admiring my right foot and started on the left with the Listerine and shaving cream soak.  

I got the cheapest shaving cream I could find and slathered it on my foot.  

I wrapped the soaked towel around my foot and sat back to relax for 30 minutes. 

I got all cozy then reached for my book, which was still across the room where I left it. Crap!

No problem, I'll read the book I have on my Kindle.... which I left on the counter by the fridge. Dang It!!

I was pretty annoyed at myself for not being more prepared, then I spied the TV remote a few feet from me.  I did an awesome scoot shuffle maneuver to reach it then enjoyed this while I soaked.

The Verdict: About 10 years ago I got hypothermia, it's a long story.  I thought I was cold then, but that as NOTHING compared to the cold my foot experienced.  As the menthol slowly seeped into my skin my foot got colder and colder.  I made it 25 minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore, but I quickly realized I couldn't do anything about it.  The cold I was experiencing was coming from the core of my foot where the menthol had set up camp.  My foot was burning cold for an hour.

But it worked, beauty is pain right?

 Overall Verdict: The shaving cream soak took more dead skin off then the vinegar soak, but it's not worth losing a limb over.  I'll be sticking with the vinegar soak. 

Reusable Paper Towels

I once saw reusable paper towels on Etsy and was very intrigued by them.  I liked the idea of having paper towels that I could use over and over again.  What I wasn't intrigued by was the price.  I'm cheap (hence all the DIY projects)

Several months later I just happen to come across a tutorial for making your own.

Reusable Paper Towels
You Will Need

Supplies (for one towel)

Basic sewing supplies

Cotton print, 11.5 x 11.5  

Terry cloth, 11.5 x 11.5

Plastic snaps and the assembly/installation tools

Coordinating thread 

and old paper towel tube

Directions:
Instead of putting a whole list of instructions that will make no sense, I suggest just going to the original website.  It has a very useful step by step guide with photos. 

I didn't like the idea of snaps.  I wanted to be able to quickly grab one of the towels, and not have to stop and fiddle with two snaps (yes, I'm that lazy)  So I decided to try Velcro instead.  I couldn't figure how to sew the Velcro on so I super glued it, accepting that it would probably fall off.

I got all my materials and got to work. I did half of them with terry cloth and half with an old garage towel.  I'll tell you right now, I prefer the ones with the old garage towel because it soaks up liquid faster.

My husband saw me actually using the sewing machine and asked what I was doing. I told him all about my fantastic reusable paper towels and the following conversation took place.

Him; "Sooooo, their washcloths."
Me; "No, they are cute cloths that we will have on the counter that we can use just like paper towels."
Him: "Sooooo, cute washcloths on the counter."
Me; "Ok fine Captain Obvious, they are cute washcloths that will sit on the counter."
Him; "Thank you, once again I am right."

Welcome to my marriage folks.

The Verdict: I have horrible sewing skills, but these were easy to make and not very time consuming.  The Velcro worked great (at first) and the towels rolled up on the tube with no problem. I started out with 6 then eventually made another 6.  12 seems to be a good amount.  There has only been a few times when I've gone through the whole roll before washing them.

 

 I've been using them for 6 months and love them.  Because I have the mentality that they are "paper towels" I use them on everything and don't care if they stain.  I've used them on things like getting chocolate frosting off the floor, and scrubbing paint off the table.   

 My favorite use for them is scrubbing the kids after dinner.  I love being able to grab a clean cloth and toss it at them.  And because it's cloth, it's a whole lot more durable then a paper towel. 

They aren't as cute as they use to be.  After about a month all the Velcro came off, which means they don't stay on the paper towel roll as nicely.  Some of the threading is starting to wear and the white terry cloth is mostly gray at this point, but you can't see it when it's all rolled up. Even though they are frumpy looking now I still love them and plan on using them until they disintegrate. 

Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam

 I have two little kids, which mean our peanut butter and jelly consumption is pretty high.  One day I might attempt to make my own peanut butter, but for now I'm sticking with the easy stuff.

Homemade Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam
You Will Need:
2 pounds (~6½ cups smooshed) rinsed off, patted dry, and hulled really sweet strawberries
¼ cup honey
3 teaspoons lemon zest
¼ cup  freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Place the strawberries in a large pot and smoosh with the bottom of a glass. Add the honey, lemon zest and lemon juice and heat over medium high.  Boil, stirring every now and then, until the mixture thickens. With my really soft and juicy strawberries, this took about 45 minutes. It could take more or less time depending on your strawberries. To test, put some of the jam on a clean spoon and then put the spoon on a plate in the freezer. Let it sit in there for five minutes and then take it out. If the jam doesn’t fall easily off the spoon when you turn it to the side, it’s ready and you can take the pot off the heat. If it does pour off easily, continue cooking for another 5 minutes and try the test again. Let cool and then pour into jars and store in the fridge and for up 1 week.

 Because I'm lazy, I bought frozen berries so I wouldn't have to wash and hull them.  When they thawed they were pretty mushy which made the cooking time faster.  It was about 30 minutes until the jam was thick enough.

 I halved the recipe and ended up with just about a cup of jam

 The Verdict: It tasted nothing like store bought strawberry jam, which was a plus in my opinion.  It was very fresh and sweet.  I could see it being a little more tart depending on the strawberries you have, but you might be able to add more honey to counter that. 

My kids didn't like it, but I think that's because it was something new, and apparently it's a sin to ask a picky eater to switch their jam.  It could also have been the texture that bothered them.  It had more strawberry chunks then regular jam.

The one draw back to this is probably the time and effort.  You do have to sort of baby it, and because it's fresh it won't have a long shelf life. But to me the time is worth it.  I finished off that cup by myself in a week, and I'm not a big jam person.