Plastic Bag Organization

I have a two year old which means trips in the car can go a variety of ways. But almost every time we travel any distance greater than across town, we usually have some need for those plastic grocery/shopping bags. They are awesome as on-the-go trash bags, dirty clothes containers, or stinky diaper eliminators but they are a nusance to have laying around in your car or crammed in your diaper bag. They also are a bit of a choking hazard. I'm not an over-protective-terrified-of-every-thing-mom, but I do worry about a toddler having easy access to those plastic bags. So finding a way to store them in a cute way was an awesome discovery.

<<<< Turn that into....

                                                                Into this! >>>>>>>


















I saw a pin a while back about rolling your plastic bags to pull out of cleaning wipes containers. It links you back to an awesome website, called tater tots and jello, definitely something to check out!

The instructions are simple and she gives a great photo-full how to guide on rolling the bags.

Its as easy as it seems and you can mix and match the plastic bags you are rolling together.

Once you roll them up and pop them in the container you just load up an 8 x 10 piece of cute, coordinating fabric with DIY decoupage and stick it on the container. I didn't have spray adhesive handy so I just decoupaged it and spread a little fabric glue I had handy on the container and it worked just as well.





This could make an awesome little gift for anyone! But especially an expectant mother (you never realize the things you actually need when you are mom, until you become one!)

Sticker Removal

Last night I got a sweet UNC tervis tumbler on clearance at Hobby Lobby (random? I know)

It had these annoying little stickers all over the bottom of it so I went to pinterest to find a way to take them off.

I found a few different things that said use a blow dryer to remove stickers.

It links you to a page from "Real Simple" and all it says is: 

"A little hot air quickly loosens price labels—with zero fingernail-chipping frustration."

So I got out my blow dryer and aimed it at the stickers for probably 5 to 10 seconds and the sticker pulled off like magic! 

no stickers or sticky residue!

 

BATTLE OF THE CLEANING AGENTS

Today I put two pins head to head in a challenge of cleaning some nasty burned up baking pans.

In the blue corner:  baking soda and PEROXIDE

And in the red corner: baking soda and VINEGAR

BEFORE-- VINEGAR

BEFORE -- PEROXIDE

BEFORE--- GROSS and BURNED from my lack of kitchen skills.

I am not much of a cook and so my baking pans that were brand spanking new this time last year, have sadly fallen victim to many ill attempts at baked goods.

The peroxide method uses mostly baking soda and tells you to squirt in peroxide and make a paste. Then you are supposed to rub the paste on the offending item with your fingers or a small sponge or dish brush.

I slathered that paste on there and scrubbed my heart out and did not get the stellar results that I hoping for based on the before and afters of the pin.

After- its better but I'm still using tin foil for everything I bake on this thing

I was getting really disappointed  because I did not want two nights of failure in a row, so I made some macaroni and cheese and drank a glass of wine and was ready for the vinegar test.

Remembering back to my first science classes, I was suddenly struck with the thought that vinegar and baking soda are what makes up the classic volcano project. The outlook for the night was suddenly much brighter, especially since D said he had never done the volcano thing as a kid. (I tend to forget that not everyone was a nerd growing up).

The basics for the vinegar project were put vinegar in the pan, heat  it to boiling then  sprinkle in some baking soda and let her rip! (bring it to the sink first!) After the fizz calms, you are supposed to Rinse and scrub. it suggests to make a paste of baking soda and water and let it sit on the especially tricky stains.

The results I got from the vinegar test were much better than the peroxide results. If I has used steel wool and a little more elbow grease I could have gotten some really rad results, but I didn't feel like putting that much work into scrubbing a pan that I always cover with tin foil anyways.

After- Its not brown! and that is not a glare, that is shiny metal like it was when it was new!!

So, the champion tonight is definitely VINEGAR!

Vinegar worked better and it was totally more fun to do (Addy would have loved to see the fizz)

....and anything that makes scrubbing burnt cookie sheets a little less crappy, wins by default!!!