Jenn Tries...

Well its certainly been a whirlwind of a week! And yes I know last week I said I would keep up with the blog, but now I realize that's not going to happen. I very much want to keep up with it, but its just not going to happen. And that's okay. It gives me a little time to step back from the blog and figure out how to get it ready for the launch. So with that being said expect some changes to be happening around the blog! Anyway, since this is the last Monday Free Write of 2016 (and probably my last post of the year too!) I decided use it as a year in review. Let's see... 2016 was... interesting to say the least... especially around here on the blog! This was the year that I (finally!) decided to reclaim my life and start learning to do stuff I should have learned a long time ago. So this year I (finally!) learned to use my sewing machine and my stand mixer! Both of which were a lot easier to use than I thought they would be. (And I definitely put my crock pot to good...

There's officially less than a week until Christmas! And less than two weeks left in 2016! Its crazy how fast the year goes isn't it? It feels like it was just June and I was worrying about running the blog and getting it ready for the big launch. Well its almost time for that. I'm hoping that will be sometime in January. I know I was hoping for the new year, but there's still so much work to do on the blog. All right that might be an overstatement. I just want to update the banner and the color scheme. And do a little touch up work along the way.  The problem is that I just (finally!) started training for a new restaurant. So for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be super busy with that and still maintaining my normal work schedule. So I'll do my best to keep up with the blog. Its just more than likely that some of posts are going to be a day or two delayed. I'm not going to lie, it's very disheartening. But I know in the end it'll be for t...

I've been playing with the idea of eggnog all December long. Its not really Christmas time if you don't enjoy some eggnog right? Or at least that's how I roll. My first thought was to make my own eggnog, but its probably best if I try that next year. When the boys (Lion) are a little older and I have time to focus on not over cooking the eggnog. (And yes I looked in a slow cooker recipe, but I set my milk out to warm to room temperature and Lion somehow got his dirty paws in it. So lesson learned on that one!) So I turned back to Pinterest to find fun ways to use eggnog. The first was eggnog lattes (which hopefully I'll be talking about next week!) and the second was different ways to bake with eggnog. And while I'm sure eggnog cupcakes are delicious, I decided to try out eggnog pancakes instead! The Recipe Eggnog Pancakes from  Recipe Girl Results Since this is my fourth or fifth pancake recipe I've tried, I've become a pro at making a goo...

I've spent the past couple of weeks at a loss of what to make for my monthly crochet project. I was going to make an infinity scarf, but I couldn't decide on a color or what kind of yarn I wanted. And I've looked at making glove, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to make a pair yet.  I thought I finally had something when I discovered a crochet cat nest, but even after getting all of my grandmas extra yarn, I don't have the right size needed.  So I just began searching Pinterest for any crochet project that I was interested in. That's when I discovered this: The Project: Crochet Can Cozy Photo and instructions from  With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart I instantly knew, I could rework the project to fit over my mason jar cup. Results (All links are affiliated. So if you like it or need it please use the links provided. The blog gets little kickback if you do at no charge to you) (For this project I used an Orange, Cream a...

I have thought long and hard about which product to talk about today. Since Christmas is right around the corner, I knew it had to be something great, but not something gimicky (so no Kitchenaid Stand Mixer or Singer Sewing Machine today! Or ever because as much as I love mine, really any stand mixer or sewing machine will do). So I was stumped for a while a nd then I realized this was also my last product spotlight for the year and maybe it shouldn't be about Christmas gifts, but instead about products to help create a better you for 2017. (All links are affiliated. So if you like or need it please use the links provided. The blog gets a kickback without any extra charge to you) The Product(s): Natural Products Tom's Of Maine So far I use their toothpaste and soap (and once I run out of deoderant , I'm sure I'll use that too). I absolutely love the toothpaste; my teeth definitely feel cleaner and better. (And I recently s...

All right here we are with the second part to my gingerbread adventure. This time I'm talking all about gingerbread cookies! All right I'll confess, I wasn't orginially going to make gingerbread cookies. I found the recipe for gingerbread spice and gingerbread pancakes, so I thought that would be enough. Then I thought again and realized gingerbread cookies are the most important gingerbread things to make. (Other than houses, I guess, but I'll save that for next year!). So here we go with my attempt to make ginger bread cookies! The Recipe Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies from  Cooking Classy Results Before I even start, I would like to say: Check Your Recipe! I ended up making 3x times as many cookies as I was planning because I didn't check the recipe and I thought I knew what was needed! But that's life! Now on with the cookie making! As always I followed my recipe (and then realized I tripled the amount of molasses, so I had to ...

While I was working on our salt dough ornaments , I ran across this: Photo from  One Beautiful Home Blog And I fell in love with the project. And I knew that it would be the perfect way to start a (hopefully!) new Christmas tradition of family ornaments. So while I normally post about decor projects on wednesday and this is not really a decor projet. I thought it would be a great way to show off our new family ornament The Project Make a Christmas Tree Family Ornament Results (All links are affiliated. So if you like or need it please use the links provided. The blog gets a kickback with no charge to you!) So there are no instructions on how to make a ornament exactly like the Cunninghams, I just made our out of left over salt dough and the Christmas tree cookie cutter I have. Next I went around and got everybody's thumb prints. (Which was easier said than done. All the boys, even Mike, gave me trouble.) And then I put the hole in the top to...

I remember being in college when Martha Stewart's daytime show came back on the air. (The one she did after prison). I'm not sure how many times I saw her have a segment on folding, but I remember at least seeing it more than once. (I believe her segment on folding t-shirts was quite popular.) And so I watched her several times teaching the audience how to fold a fitted sheet. I never participated, though. (I'm not sure why, I guess I thought I had no problems folding a fitted sheet. Silly me!) So now here I am 6 or 7 years later and I realize that I really didn't know what I was doing. And I wish I had paid more attention to Martha. So since I'm on laundry improvement spree, I thought there was no better time to learn how to properly fold a fitted sheet. The Project Learn How To Fold A Fitted Sheet instructions from this photo: (photo from Sleep Number .) Results So here we go; folding a fitted sheet! (It can't be that hard can it?) Fir...

Happy Monday All! This week I stumbled upon an old Maya Angelou quote: full article at  Maya Angelou On The Dangerous Power Of Racist Words And while the article itself is important read (especially about the power of racist, hateful, words have on people), I particularly liked the quote above. I've had a long held the beliefs that thoughts too have a particular energy. And whether you're making something or just doing your household choirs, the energy for those is transferred. So when I'm crafting, I try to keep my thoughts positive. Or at the very least, I try to use my crafting time to work out any issues I'm having. (Yes I'm one of those people who talks to herself while crafting... well when I'm working on things after hours and all my boys are sleeping that is!). Strangely enough, that even after I've long finished a project, I can still remember what I was thinking about. (And sometimes that determines how I feel about the project, too). ...

I'm officially changing my Tuesdays from a Try Me Tuesday to Clean Me Tuesdays! because they only things I seem to be trying anymore are cleaning ideas. And there certainly are more than enough cleaning tips on Pinterest , so it doesn't look like I'll be running out of projects anytime soon. So for this week's cleanning project I wanted to tackle a couple of different laundry tips. The Project Vinegar as Fabric Softner/ Cleaning Agent (And trying out new reusable fabric sheets) Instructions from this picture from Ask Anna and  Six Dollar Family Results Project #1: Vinegar in the Wash I know that's a big list of different ways to use vinegar in the wash. And I didn't test all of them (yet. I'm definitely going to have to try the whitening solution!). So instead I decided to just use it as a general laundry boosting agent. I just poured it into my fabric softener slot and then let my washer go to work.  I'm actually ...

Okay so here we go the long promised write up for my Children's play Chritsmas tree (that I finished too late for a Christmas post, so I held it for a year!). For the past couple of years (much to the humor of my father-in-law) I didn't decorate our Christmas tree. Since both of the boys are little and well, I didn't trust them not to have to play (and break) all of my ornaments. (And yes I'm trying out shatterproof ornaments this year. So far the balls are intact, but the tops are being ripped off.) So this year I was wasting time at work on Facebook, when I stumbled upon a play tree project from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I couldn't believe my luck and knew I had to make it for my boys. The Project Create a Christmas Tree for the Boys Instructions from Joann Fabrics Makers Guide (all product links are affliated. So if you like it or need it please use the links and the blog with get a kickback at no expense to you!) Results The project instruc...

So when I was deciding what kid craft to try for December, I knew I wanted something Christmasy. You know to get the kids in the holiday spirit, but I had tried salt dough ornaments before and they didn't turn out that well. I just couldn't get them to dry all the way. And when I set them outside to dry, a raccoon (or some other night creature) ate the salt dough away from the paint. So I wasn't sure I wanted to go through that again But the more I looked at Christmas kid crafts, the more I knew I had to give salt dough ornaments another try. The Project Make Salt Dough Ornaments Idea and Recipe from  The Imagination Tree The Results (most links are affiliated, So if you like the product please buy from them. The blog gets a kickback at no cost to you!) If you search Pinterest for salt dough ornaments there are a couple different recipes to choose from. I think the first time I tried making salt dough I used the recipe that was 1 part salt, 1 par...