“Wha…wha…what? Really?” I guess many people are viewing it as
their daydream, time sucking website of choice. But, for me it’s a magical
world into all things that are possible in my home and away. I have found the greatest
activities to do with my family and recipes that I would never have thought of
on my own.
I decided that I would take 30 days of my summer break from
school to do all things Pinterest. Now not all of these were done one day after
another some days I did more than one and others I did none but for thirty days
I played Pinterest queen and had a blast doing it and my family did too.
Here is the review of my findings:
1. Gabe’s birthday was coming up and we are SO out of money.
I had to create something good. He is always complaining that he never gets a
back rub. I found this awesome shirt that Abby and I could make and we had a lot
of fun coloring and deciding on the buildings that should be on the shirt. We
put all the places that Gabe loves to go. The temple, Chunga’s (Mexican restaurant),
Moab, Utah football stadium, bowling, Gold’s Gym, the park, our house, Maverick
gas station, and the donut shop. We bought his favorite cars (Hot wheels size)
Miata and Jeep, some chocolate, and a head massager and put it all in a box and
labeled it Dads massage kit. He loved it and we had fun making it for him and “driving”
all over his back.shirt *****
2. My friend Shanna has a daughter the same age as mine. She
decided to be baptized just like Abby. Shanna asked me to bring a desert so I
went to trusty Pinterest and found this pineapple sheet cake. I tweaked it a
bit by adding coconut and nuts. I cooked it according to the instructions and
it turned out really dark on top. Next time, and yes there will be a next time,
I will cook it for less time. Everyone at the luncheon loved it. I brought the
large pan home with two pieces left which lasted about an hour.pineapple cake J****
3. Oh in the summa summa time I crave a cool glass of
lemonade and a big ‘ol scoop of ice-cream. This dessert had both. Pink lemonade
freezer bars. I was so excited because I had everything already in my house.
Ritz crackers, butter, frozen lemonade, and cool whip. I whipped this up quick.
Sadly, it didn’t set up very well and it was SO SOUR! I think we ate 3 pieces
and couldn’t take anymore. The garbage liked it more than us. pink lemonadeL *
4. Bobby pins, Can’t live with them can’t live without them.
I love bobby pins for a quick pull back for both mine and Abby’s hair but they
always end up everywhere. The sink is covered with them my nightstand the
bathroom floor, Abby’s room, etc. etc. etc. so I saw this clever trick to use
magnet strip and attach it to your cabinet door or inside side of drawer. I
have a little wooden organizer I set on the counter that I put it on. It is
fabulous! Easy to get to and they are always right there for me to get to. I
think I needed a stronger magnet because mine fall at the slightest touch but
the concept is great! ****
5. I am always looking for new ideas to say thank you to
Abby’s teacher and this year her teacher was amazing. It was her first year
teaching and she was great. Abby loved her and so did I. She let me volunteer
in her classroom and works off many hours towards my own college courses. For
the end of the year I wanted to do something to make her first year memorable.
I saw these beach towels wrapped with a magazine and a treat and decided to
throw my own twist on it. I knew her favorite color is red so I found a lounge
chair towel that was red and had a large pocket on the end that you could fold
the towel up into and carry as a bag when done. Since I had access to the
entire class the day before school let out I had each student write their name
on the pocket part of the towel and I painted on 2nd grade 2011-2012
so she would have it to remember always. I added sunscreen and her favorite
treat. Voila! It was a huge hit. She came up to me on the last day and gave me
a great big hug and thanks for making her feel so special. She deserved it!
*****
6. Dinner time is always such a pain. No one likes to eat
the same thing and a lot of the time my husband is allergic to what I want to
make. This recipe satisfied us all. French dip crescents! Easy peasy I even had
Gabe pick up the ingredients on the way home and we were eating less than 30
min later. Just crescent roll dough, roast beef from the deli, provolone
cheese, and au jus dip and we had a winner.French dip *****
7. I hate sushi or pretty much anything fishy but I love the
way it looks so pretty on the plate. I saw peanut butter banana sushi and
thought “I would eat that.” Easy to make and was pretty good. A bit rich. Abby and I could only do 2-3 pieces and we
were done. ***
9. I love to decorate and July 4th is no
different. I saw these great fireworks that you could make with toilet paper
rolls. I just stopped at trusty Hobby Lobby and grabbed a few sheets of
scrapbook paper and Abby and I were on our way to star spangled greatness. We
stuck them in the planters on the porch and they look great! Of course I got carried
away and ended up making wooden fireworks too and the look patriotic as well.*****
10. Keeping with the patriotic theme I decided to make a
wreath. I saw the cutest one on Pinterest several months ago and it looked like
it had been pinned a gazillion times. But since everyone I talked to seem to
never actually get around to creating their pins I figured my door would be
fabulous while they kept dreaming. It took about three hours which I spent
watching Vampire Diaries and pinning little pieces of felt all over a Styrofoam
wreath. In the end I was very pleased. I did change up the stars and painted
wooden ones instead of paper. I figured it would hold up better.wreath *****
11. Hard water ugh! My shower enclosure is glass and sadly
you can’t see through it. Okay so now I’m embarrassed. Again Pinterest gave me
a recipe for greatness. HOT vinegar and dish soap. Mix in spray bottle and be
prepared to be amazed. I have used vinegar before without this kind of results.
I was blown away and now everyone I know now knows that my shower is clean. LOLshower
*****
12. My glass cooktop is used a lot. And I am not the
greatest cook in the world so spills are bound to happen. I have the fancy
scrubbing brush but I can sit there for almost an hour scrubbing and not get
the results I want. I decided to try Pinterest version of a stovetop cleaner
baking soda and a warm soapy rag. NADA! I was disappointed. No such luck there
either. Guess my stove top is destined to be dirty. Can’t say I didn’t try.stovetop L
13. Abby loves to sit in the tub. She will be in there for
hours just playing with her dolls and chillin’. She is also a regular kid who
is fascinated with glow sticks. Pinterest combines the two and Wow did she have
fun. We put a blanket over the window to make it dark in the bathroom, filled
the tub, and threw in the glow sticks. Awesome! I think I might have to try
this on my own sometime. *****
14. Summer snacking is a nightmare. Abby is ALWAYS hungry.
10 min after dinner she is hungry. So naturally I turned to Pinterest and
naturally it had an answer. One person had the idea that their kids had to pay
for their snacks. The idea is that each child receives so much “play” money
like 1’s and 5’s every Monday. Mom is then in charge of two boxes. One box
holds proportioned snacks worth 1 dollar and 1 box holds proportioned snacks
that cost 5 dollars. Then you have the free options. The 1 dollar options in my
house include rice cakes, crackers and cheese, and graham crackers. The 5
dollar bin has cookies, licorice, and marshmallows. The free options are any
fruits or vegetables, raisins, and nuts. If you plan it right the kids get few
5’s and more 1”s which eventually run out. Hopefully your kids will go for more
free options to save up. Abby on the other hand uses all her 5’s in the first
few days and lives on 1’s the rest of the week. If she comes to me saying she
is hungry I just refer her back to the boxes or free list and that ends all
arguments. I like it. I still get a little whining but it has died down tremendously
and now I don’t have to go scrambling trying to find her something to eat she
knows right where to go. snacks***
15. If it’s not “I’m Hungry” it’s “What can I do?” whined in
my ear about 100 times a day. Ugh! Don’t kids just go outside and play anymore?
Why does everything have to be planned and carefully orchestrated for our kids?
Where’s their imagination and sense of freedom and curiosity? Granted my
daughter is very creative when she wants to be and, I think, is the most social
out of all the kids on our block but on those days when no one is available to play
and she is BORED again I am left scrambling for something for her to do while I
complete my chores or read a book. I came across an activity that looked like
fun. Abby got a skein of yarn and created a virtual laser obstacle course up our
stairway. It was great and kept her entertained for hours. Our cheap masking
tape from the dollar store didn’t hold up really well so I would recommend painters
tape for better stickiness to the wall. It was a lot of fun watching her
complete her lasers and more fun trying to get through them when it was time
for bed. It was even pretty funny when the dog couldn’t figure out how to get
through. *****
16. I love fingernail polish if you didn’t already know from
a previous post. Pinterest has so many different ideas of way to design your
fingernails. My favorite which I have already done 4 times is water marbling. You
get the colors you want on your nails and drip the paint into a cup (disposable)
of water then swirl it around with a toothpick. This creates a marble effect. I
prepare my fingers my masking them with tape then dip my finger into the paint.
Voila! Marbled nails. It is super fun and gets quite a reaction from people
wondering where you got your nails done. Abby loved it too. water nails*****
17. Another nail idea was to create the gradually darkening
shade of polish. You get 3-4 shades of polish just a titch darker than the next
and paint on a makeup sponge. You then place that on your nail for the desired
look. I just couldn’t get this to work. My sponge kept soaking up the polish
and I couldn’t get it to my nail fast enough. Big bummer; because it is a
really cool look.nails *
20. Another idea of designing fingernails was dipping the
end of a straw in the polish and applying to your nail. I don’t know if my
nails are really rounded or if I am seriously challenged but this did not work
for me and ended up looking like a bunch of goofy lines on my nail. straw nails*
21. MMM I made the best cauliflower. Even Abby ate it and
she does not like cauliflower. I just mixed all the ingredients in a sauce pan
brought to a boil then put it in a blender and pureed it and poured it over
steamed cauliflower. The sauce was tomato based and a bit spicy. Yummy cauliflower****
22. Another idea I used for the 4th of July was a
fun popping drink. We had blue pop rocks and I wet the rim of our glasses with
water then dipped them in the pop rocks I then filled the glasses with red
crystal light and threw in the leftover pop rocks. Both Gabe and Abby looked
over at me funny while I was drinking because I busted up laughing. Gabe had
been saying something and the popping was so loud I couldn’t hear what he was
saying. It was pretty funny. Will do again! Oh and with the leftover packages
of pop rocks that I had I made “POP” corn. I made popcorn in our machine and
then sprinkled the pop rocks over the top. While watching fireworks it was
funny to see people’s reaction when they realized their popcorn was literally
popping.pop drinks *****
25. Ugh I am so not motivated to exercise. Pinterest is
filled with all kinds of ideas to get you up and moving. Abby and I tried a
week of daily planned out exercises and they were pretty fun. If I could just
stick to it we might have a good thing going.daily plan ****
26. Sticking with the exercise thing Pinterest has a pin
linking you to a website that has all of those advertised workout videos for
free. P90X, insanity, etc. Abby and I tried it one day and wow we are total
wimps. It was still fun and we plan on doing it again when our week of no TV is
up (details to follow on the TV thing). (update: link has been deleted guess someone found out they were free and canceled the link. Doh)*****
27. Tuna and cucumbers. This was amazing and we will have it
again and again and again because they were yummy first off and secondly they
were so fun and thirdly they were easy to make. I took a cucumber and made
large slices, scooped out the seeds to form a bowl, made tuna salad, then put
it in the cucumbers. YUMMY! tuna*****
28. Okay here’s the deal I love my hardwood floors they are
beautiful and just the right color to hide most of the dirt but cleaning them
is almost a half a day’s work out and I always end up with streaks so I find no
purpose in doing it. (Don’t look closely at my floors) I looked on Pinterest
and found a recipe for streak free floors. Vinegar, dish soap, water, and
alcohol. Spay it on wipe it up. Nope didn’t work still have streaks and I
mopped first so I know it wasn’t just dirt I was pushing around. Man I was
hoping that one worked for sure.floor L
29. Love this next idea. Glad press and seal plastic wrap on
your refrigerator shelves. This is amazing and I am surprised I didn’t think of
it sooner. It makes for the easiest cleanup and if it is just small it wipes
up. *****
30. I have a few purses but the few that I have I never know
where to put them so they end up on my closet floor. Pinterest has a solution
for that too. Go figure LOL. Shower curtain rings. Just put them around the rod
in your closet hook your purse to them and you have a clean floor and a place
for everything. (If you have heavy purses the dollar store rings are a bit
flimsy)purse ****
31. Where I live there are countless numbers of rocks so this next activity was right up our alley. Abby and I went searching for big flat rocks and came home with a bucket full. Next we washed them and stuck them in a 350* oven for 15 minutes. while that was happening we peeled the wrappers off some crayons. I laid out some butcher paper in the backyard and when the rocks were done "cooking" we set them on the paper and set out coloring them. The crayons just melt onto the rocks making the most amazing watercolor designs. Abby didn't want to stop even when our rocks ran out. All our colored rocks are now decorating our planters and flowerbeds. Super fun activity! rocks*****
32. I have the best recipe for pizza crust and we love
making pizza at our house because we can put whatever we want on it and
customize it to each of our family members preferences. When Abby and I saw a
pizza made to look like an angry birds character we knew that was perfect for
us. It was fun shaping the crust and adding the toppings in just the right
spots. When it was done cooking the image was blurred but was Delicious! pizza*****
33. I was asked to bring a dessert for our annual family reunion
so I headed to Pinterest once again. I found a recipe for Crispy peanut butterscotch fudge squares.
YUM! They weren’t hard to make and looked beautiful. Because it was a family
reunion I made a double batch…Bad idea! They didn’t set up. They were so rich
and gooey. Yummy! but messy. If I make these again I am doing a single batch
and seeing how that works.butterscotch ***
34. And last but not least Pinterest is helping me plan my
next vacation. (I’m hoping Disneyland) There are tons of pins about the best
time to go the best places to stay and eat, and they even link you to Disney’s schedule
and crowd estimators. How cool is that? When I do finally get my vacation I’ll
be sure to tell you how each of those tips worked out.Disney
So there you have it my 30+ days of Pinterest. It’s not over
I am finding many more things to do and have many pinned still to get to. So,
for the most part, Pinterest has made my life and household a bit more
energetic, organized, tasty, beautiful, and so much more. If you don’t believe
me I challenge you to try actually doing some of those dreamed of pins and seeing
for yourself how Pinterest can change your life...
1 comment:
So many fun ideas! I love your commentary on how well they worked, or didn't. My cousin taught me to use a razor blade on our glass rangetop. I was nervous it would scratch it, but it scrapes off the spills and leavea it looking new. Afterwards I dampen a paper towel and wipe it away. In the Walmart hardware section i paid about two dollars for a holder with replaceable blades, which so far I've never had to replace. Thanks for all the great ideas!
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