Keeping Tights Tight

I love organization. I hate when things don't have a place. I also dislike when things are in their place jumbled with everything else that belongs there (Read: Sock drawer). I keep my tights with my socks. I keep my little girls' socks with her tights. They always seem to come unrolled. I hate it. One day a while back I found my solution. Basically, you tie the tights to themselves. Sounds complicated but it's not.

 

First, you fold the tights in half so that the legs lay on top of each other.
 

 

Second, you roll up the tights, starting from the waistband, leaving a bit of the toe portion unrolled.

 

 

Third, you take the inside leg and pull it out from inside the roll making sure to leave the outside leg rolled. Then wrap the inside leg back around in the other direction.

 

 

 

Fourth, you tie the two toes together in a simple knot.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, you're so happy because your tights stay organized, presentable and pretty.

Quiet book

I've been working on making a quiet book for my kids for a while now. I first thought about it when I was pregnant with Zac but didn't do it then. I had a quiet book growing up - my mama  mad DIY sewing skills. Two of my old made quiet books for their kids and I was reminded of quiet books' awesomeness.

So, I  started making a quiet book in September. I bought the materials - felt and interfacing. Then morning sickness hit. I worked on the book maybe two or three times during October and November. Toward the end of November I had to reconvene and refocus. I had already made my templates and cut out a fair portion of the felt. So, I've been working on them a lot. It feels like non-stop but really I only get about 30 minutes everyday to work on it -  though really, that is a decent amount.

Someday soon (cross  your fingers and hope) I'll post pictures of the whole book and the templates.

Remember the Fudge

Remember that one time I said that I pour my fudge into a pan lined with tin foil? Remember how I said it makes it sooo much easier to take out of the pan?

 

I found something even better.

 

Parchment paper. Do it every time now. It is more expensive than tin foil but you can re-use it :) and it doesn't leave little squiggly lines on the bottom and outside edges.

Parchment paper + fudge =

 Awesome, smooth, pretty and delicious.

Ham

 

Whenever I go to Costco I buy ham. I buy two packages and separate it into 4 baggies. We go through ham pretty quickly cause Zac likes his "ham-burgers" but freezing them ensures that we don't have anything go bad. I used to just freeze the pieces how they came packaged, flat on top of each other. This meant some more intense thawing time or the microwave if I didn't notice we needed a new bag out.

 

 

So, once, I tried rolling the individual pieces.

 

 

I'm never going back. 

 

Even when the ham is frozen it's easy to pull out one rolled piece.

This rocks. It does take a tad bit more time in the initial phase but is so worth it.  

 

 

 

Bread

 

 

So, I make a lot of the bread that we consume. Whole wheat bread, rolls, bread sticks, pizza dough, bread stuff. I love having homemade bread things for dinner but baking them while cooking dinner is so stressful. So, I'm sharing an AWEsome trick I learned when I was younger. You can make your bread in the morning, or the day before, form it into loaves or rolls, whatever, and then stick them on the pan, covered with saran wrap, in the fridge. This prevents them from rising. This means I don't have to worry about timing the rising of the bread just right with when dinner will be ready. BEST thing ever! It makes for super yummy, homemade meals and less stress :)

 

One time I tried a whole wheat roll recipe. It was good but I still like white rolls better.

 

 

I used Active dry instead of Instant yeast. So, this is the initial rise.

 

 

Punched down! I LOVE doing this part!

 

 

I grease my pans with butter stick wrappers. I like it better that way.

 

 

I stuck the rolls in the fridge and took them out several hours later and this is what they looked like.

 

 

 This is after they warmed up and rose.

 

 

I used half of the dough to make a spaghetti braid for dinner. Though I didn't adore the whole wheat rolls. This was awesome with whole wheat.

 

 

 

 

 

Fudgy Fudge Fudge

I love fudge! It is so yummy and oh, so, easy to make!

I've used several recipes and threw together my own because nothing was perfect. This still isn't perfect but it's so close that it's okay.

• 3 1/2 C sugar
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 bag mini marshmallows
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 C butter
• 1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2 C milk chocolate chocolate chips
• 1 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Cook the sugar, milk, and marshmallows in a large saucepan on meadium high. When it comes to a rolling boil (must actually be rolling!), set a timer for 10minutes and keep stirring. Make sure it doesn't burn! When the timer goes off remove from heat and add the vanilla. Then add the butter and chocolate chips and stir/beat it for 5 minutes. You wanna make sure the chips all melt.

Line a baking pan with tin foil, pour the fudge in and stick it in the fridge to cool. Once it's cooled, pull on the tin foil lining and the fudge will pop right out! This makes a much easier clean up and your fudge won't stick to the pan. Cut and enjoy!

 

 

Swiftie

I've said this before but.....I adore Taylor Swift's music. She had a new CD come out today. On my birthday :) It's entitled Red.

 

 

 

I Love some of these songs. I am such a Swiftie (an eternal Taylor Swift music fan).

I haven't listened to all of the songs yet but so far I love Stay, Stay, Stay, Starlight, State of Grace,22, Holy Ground and The Lucky One. This made me one happy birthday girl.