Mason jar soap dispenser

I came across a post on Pinterest that I just loved and had to have. Who wouldn't love a mason jar soap dispenser in their kitchen?




via

It is no wonder I was instantly in love. However, paying $17.00 for one, not so thrilling. So whats a girl to do? Well Make my own of course!

I headed on over to hobby lobby and got a mason Jar during a week when they are 50% off. Which, just in case you didn't know, half the store is on sale one week and the other half the next. So if something you want isn't on sale wait a week.

The next step is the only difficult part. Figure out how to get a hole in the lid of the jar. I tried getting a screw driver and hitting it through with a hammer, which did work sort of but did not make a big enough hole. So I had my fiance drill one for me then used the screw driver to stretch it until it was big enough. The hole does not have to be a perfect circle. It just has to be big enough for the soap dispenser to fit through and small enough for the top of the dispenser to cover it.

I found my soap dispenser at target. It was on clearance for a dollar and I just tossed the bottom part in the trash since it was cracked. You can use the top of any soap dispenser for this. Even one from Bath and Body works. you will need to slide the bottom part through the lid and check to see if it is the right length then trip away any excess till it fits.

Then you want to turn it upside down on the jar. You are going to need a hot glue gun or some super glue for this part. Glue the bottom of the lid to the dispenser. You want to make sure you put enough glue to make it stay put but not enough to be messy. This part will be inside the jar so it will not effect the look of the soap dispenser.

You will want to leave it upside down to dry. Once it is dry you should not be able to separate the lid and the dispenser. As you can see I really layered the glue on there just to be sure that it would stay. The first time I glued it was not enough to keep it from separating so make sure you check and add more if needed.

Now you can flip it over, screw the top back on and be done. If you want it to be tinted a color you can mix some food coloring and modge podge and paint the jar on the outside. You could also do a solid paint on the outside if you do not want to see in. I loved how it looked clear since I was leaving it i the kitchen but if I make one for monkey mans bathroom I will tint it blue to match.

The last step, you need to pick a soap. I love bath and body works kitchen lemon soap. The smell just makes me think clean. Plus my dish soap is also yellow and I wanted them to match.

Total cost: $4.00 including soap.
Total Time: 30 minutes

Isn't it cute filled up? What kind of soap would you choose?
 Where would you put yours or who would you give it to?

Is breast really best for every baby?

 

Now before I get started I want to assure you, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with breast feeding. I know it is the recommended way to feed your newborn. I  decided against it and I am so glad I did. Now before you get your panties in a bunch, remember, formula feeding is not going to kill my baby (who is now a healthy happy 3year old.)

There is so much pressure to breastfeed now that only of the ladies in my moms group was telling us that she felt forced into it. Now, I am very stubborn, in the hospital I made it clear that I was not going to breast feed. Even after my son had problems with the first two formulas I did not give into the nurses. I made it clear that I did not want to hear it before I was admitted, and I had a nurse kicked off my service for badgering me about it. There are many reasons I felt so strongly about it.

Many "professionals" tell you that in order to bond with your baby you need to breast feed.
 Now considering our baby was not planned, and my fiance was not at all excited to be a dad, this picture sure looks like we are pretty darn attached to me.

 

Now my reasons for not breastfeeding could be considered selfish. I did not want to deal with the cracked nipples. I was already recovering from a c-section, not to mention ripping open my stitched a month later. I happen to have very sensitive nipples. I also have very large breasts. Before monkey man I was a DDD. I did not want the extra stress on my back. I also did not want to have to struggle with covering up my baby every time they had to eat and trying to get my breast exposed while not having it exposed.

 

One of the main reasons I wanted to formula feed was so that my fiance could feed while I was doing my school work. Now many of you could say but pumping was always a option so that he could feed. When you pump it takes twice as long to feed. You take the time you are pumping and the time you are feeding. Just not a option for me.

 

I also loved that he could feed himself while I got things done.

 

That same lady from my mothers group has a problem leaving her 6 month old with anyone while she goes out because her daughter will not take a bottle. All she wants is the breast. Her baby has become so attached that she will only sleep a hour at a time even during the night because she uses the breast not just for food but as a soother as well. This has left the mother exhausted and has a negative reaction every time the baby cries or wants to be held. This time around it has not been a happy motherhood for her. She has been told she does not have post partum depression she is just overly exhausted and to try to get some sleep. Well easy for the doctor to say get some sleep when he is not a pacifier/food source.

 

Now what good is breastfeeding when the mother is miserable? When she is in pain? When no one can help take over the feeding?

 

Now another mother in my moms group got a bad breast infection while her twins were 3 months old. Talk about painful. Again the babies would not take anything other than a breast so she had to continue breast feeding with a infection while on heavy antibiotics.

 

Others in our group have had many babies not receive enough breast milk and had to switch to formula after their babies were hospitalized for dehydration. They not only felt guilty that they were not making enough milk to keep their babies hydrated, they felt guilty that their babies now had to be on formula.

 

Now why would someone feel guilty that their baby had to be on formula? Formula is still healthy for your baby. Formula is still giving your baby the nourishment it needs. Formula helps babies gain weight easier than breastfeeding. Formula allows others to be able to feed your baby. Formula makes it easy for baby to be away from mom for a few hours to give her a break. Formula is richer then breast milk making it easier for babies to sleep through the night. Formula also has a more balanced amount of vitamins that does not rely on your diet and makes it so that babies do not end up needing supplements.

 

Now again I am not saying that breast feeding is bad or that formula feeding is for everyone. I just feel like mothers should not be punished, looked down upon, or made to feel guilty about formula feeding. Mothers know what is best for their child. I know I would have never made it through breast feeding. I could have never delt with any of the problems that could have came from breast feeding.

 

What is your opinion? Were you a mom who felt pressured into breast feeding? Did you have problems from breast feeding? I would love to hear your story.

Make a masculine lamp girly

We have these two lamps that used to be in my fiances room before we moved in together. They are by no means ugly but I still didn't like them. So I decided to make them Mrs. and Mr. lamps. I went to Joann's fabrics and got some ruffled ribbon. Then I started taking hot glue and wrapping it around the top. When I got back to the same spot I cut it. Then I continued doing this all the way to the bottom of the shade. So while my fiance hates what I did to his lamp it is definitely growing on me. I think I might add a few fabric flowers to it and maybe even some silk buttons to the back.

Is there anything in you house that you wish was more feminine? Is there anything of your husband or boyfriends you would change to suit you better?

Little piece of Heaven

Every few months I head on down the coast to this beautiful little beach town in southern California. It is almost to San Diego. La Jolla Cove is my little sanctuary. Luckily for me it is close enough that if I wanted to head down there just to stay a night I could. This is the view from my bench that I can sit for hours and watch.

There is nothing I wouldn't do to have this be my view everyday. Unfortunately for me houses in La Jolla are millions of dollars. Some days it amazes me what beautiful, amazing, and powerful things God has made for our enjoyment. I do not pay attention to it as often as I should, I don't think any of us really do. however, when I go to on vacation here it really sinks in.

 

La Jolla cove is a protected beach meaning you are not supposed to take things from the beach, you can not fish there, and you can not feed the animals. It is almost like the fish and sea lions know that it is protected because they all flock there. This makes for some amazing snorkeling.

 

What better way to enjoy what God has made for us then having that one place you can go and just shut yourself off from the world?

 

What is your little piece of heaven?

What do you mean you didnt have time to wash the sheets??!!!

Amazing Fiance has been harping on me about how I have poor time management skills. I think men just do not know what all us stay at home mommies have to do in the day. They do not realize that moms, specially moms of toddler boys, take 45minutes to do something that would normally take 15 minutes to do. Not getting around to wash the bed sheets that had been peed on in the middle of the night shortly after monkey boy crawled into bed with us was the reason this was brought up again yesterday in our house. it went something like this:
AF:" what do you mean you didn't wash the sheets today? What do you do all day that you couldn't take the 5minutes to put the sheets into the washer?"
Me: "well it has been a busy day!"
AF:" so busy you couldn't wash the sheets? All you do all day is sit on the couch how could you not have time to wash the sheets?"

Well lets take you back to the start of my day:

I was up at 7am got monkey man up made breakfast and got him eating. Ran into the bathroom got my make up on and got dressed. Went and got monkey boys clothes from his room plus the extra set of clothes that I had to get together since he had spilled water all over himself at preschool on Friday and no longer had a change of clothes. Got those put into a bag and labeled with his name. Went and got monkey man cleaned up dressed for the day and brushed his teeth. Spent 5 minutes looking for his rabbit because heaven forbid we leave the house without it.

Took 10 minutes to get monkey man to walk down to the garage and finally buckled into the car seat. Backed out of the garage and started driving to preschool and saw a sign reminding me it is earth day. Smack my self upside the head and head to home depot because I forgot to buy a flower for monkey man to plant at school.

Get to school and now have no where to park because it is 3 minutes till he needs to be in class. Walk the quarter mile from the far parking lot to the office stopping every 5 steps so that monkey man can look at something else.

Finally I make it to the office. It is 8:49am and we are officially 4 minutes late. I take monkey man into the office for his health check so that he can get his name tag. We get our name tag and start to head to his class when he realizes rabbit didn't get his health check. We go back and rabbit is checked. Finally we head to class.

I spend the next 2 hours helping kids plant flowers for earth day. I am tired and realize I still haven't had coffee this morning. I go to Starbucks and wait in line behind 10 cars. twenty minutes later I am on my way back to monkey mans school for their earth day performance. Get to the school and am able to park right in front of the school. I walk in and still have 10 minutes till their performance. I start to check my emails and the assistant teacher in monkey mans class comes out and finds me. "monkey man just threw up everywhere." "Are you sure it was him he has never thrown up in his life and has been his normal self all day." As we walk back to the class I see monkey man sitting on the carpet covered in vomit.

Spend the next 15 minutes getting monkey man cleaned up and changed into the extra clothes that I had just brought that morning and clean up any vomit on the floor. Leave the room and realize the earth day performance is over.

We climb into the car and drive to Von's to pick up some pull ups and ginger ale in case this is the stomach flu. Pray that this is not the stomach flu on the way back to the apartment. Get back to the apartment and carry monkey man inside and realize he is starting to feel a little warm but not enough to be a fever and is very pale.

Once I get monkey man settled, changed into a pull up just in case, I put on his shows get him tucked into the couch with his rabbit and blanket and head to the kitchen to get him some ginger ale. Open the ginger ale and it explodes everywhere. Spend 5 minutes wiping up the kitchen and finally get monkey man some to drink. I take his clothes into the laundry room and get them started because they are really starting to stink.

Just as I am starting the laundry I hear monkey man throw up again. I run out hopping that it is on the towel I put in front of him or in the trash in front of him but have no such luck. Get him all cleaned up and washed off and realize he if really warm now. Look for a thermometer for 10 minutes and finally find one in a box we still haven't unpacked. Realize it doesn't work anymore and toss it. Find and give monkey man some children's Tylenol. Head back and clean up the couch and carpet.

Get monkey man settled back down and get him an new blanket. Go to the laundry and switch the clothes over and put the newly puked on clothes and blanket in the washer. Check on monkey man and he begs me to cuddle him. By now it is 2pm.

Cuddle monkey man for a half hour and then get back up to get dinner figured out. Monkey man starts complaining that his tummy hurts again. Get him some more ginger ale and gather more towels just in case. Sit with him again till his tummy settles a little and feel that he is still warm. Head to the bathroom and get a wet wash cloth and start wiping him down while he is crying.

Spend the next hour holding and singing to him in hopes that he will fall asleep. It is 3:30pm.
I get a phone call that wakes monkey man up again. It is a lady at my table group for my moms group saying that she cant make it tomorrow and wont be able to bring the table gift. Hang up the phone and start to see if i have anything around the apartment that I could take as a table gift and just quick drop off. I don't find anything. I call my mom and she agrees to go to target and pick some stuff up to make purse kits for the woman. While we are talking monkey man throws up again and this time he has stuff coming out both ends.

While I get him cleaned up yet again he finally is starting to cool down and perk up a little bit. I get the laundry switched over yet again and go back to cuddling my poor sick boy. It is now almost 5pm.
My mom comes over and we get the kits put together and she leaves while monkey man is sleeping.
I realize I still haven't got anything together for dinner but before I can get to it monkey man is back awake and wanting to cuddle.

Before I know it it is 6:30pm and AF is home. The house is not cleaned up, the sheets have not been washed, and I did not think of anything for dinner. Luckily, AF does not say anything and we get threw the night and get monkey man to bed in our bed. We watch a movie on the couch and when it is over we head to bed. It is 11:00pm. I pick up monkey man to put him in his bed and the bed is soaked, he is soaked, and the blankets are you guessed it soaked. So with both the normal and extra set of sheets peed on including some pillows and both blankets the world came crashing down.

So, I am doing some research on creating a daily schedule and I am hoping that I will have that done in the next few days as long as monkey man starts feeling better. Do you have a daily routine? What are the things you try to make sure to get to during the day? What is a normal day in your life?

What the Wick

I use candles a lot in our apartment. I seem to always have at least one burning at all times while I am home. I happened to come across some candles at bath and body works and they have now become my two favorites. Whoever would have thought that lemon and mint would go so nice together? It makes my kitchen smell lovely.

I also came across three little candles that I liked at Michaels earlier in the year when all their candles were 50% off. However with these three I have had the same problem. When they get about half way burned through the wick falls out of its little metal holder and comes out of the wax. 

So what was I to do? I could not very well just throw out three candles. So I thought I would show you all how I have managed to get all three burning again. 

First, you need to get the wax out of the candle. I use my fiancé’s screw driver together the wax out by scraping it from around the sides. 

 

Then I took a candle plate and dumped all the wax out onto it so that I would still have it.

 

 I took the metal part that holds the wick and pulled it out of the glass. You are going to need to get all the wax out of the inside part where the wick should be. The best way to do this is to peel the hot glue from the bottom of it and then stick a toothpick through it.

  

 

Then I got some twine and cut a piece about two inches long. I used jute twine that came three rolls together at the dollar tree.

  I pulled the twine through the middle of the wick holder. Then I tied a knot in the bottom of the twine a cut off extra below the knot. Then you are going to get the hot glue and restick the entire thing to the bottom of the candle jar.

 

 

Once that dries you want to start restuffing the candle jar with wax. 

Once all the wax is back in the jar you will need to heat it up in the microwave. Put it in for a minute at a time and check it until the wax is partially melted. Yes I realize you are putting metal in the microwave so you are going to want to stay close to the microwave. Or if you are not as laid back stupid as me you can heat the wax in a glass container and poor it the jar as it melts.

Then you are going to push the non melted wax into the melted wax. This will make it melt as well. 

Once most of the wax is melted use the screw driver or a toothpick to make sure the wick is still stuck to the bottom. Once most of the wax is watery you can stick the entire candle into the freezer to harden.

 Once it is hard (should be about a half hour) you can remove it from the freezer. It is now good as new. What are some of your favorite candles?

Paper pileup on highway Sauter

The amount of papers that we have acquired since moving into our apartment in December is unbelievable. Finally after letting all our paper stack up and stashing them in different parts of our house I decided it was time to get them organized and filed. So I bought these red, green, and blue file folders from target on clearance.



I then had to dig out all the piles of papers that we have just stuffed in places to keep it out of the way. These are only three of our 10 piles. Yes, I know we should have got it all sorted out months ago. The sad part was the amount of this stuff that could have been thrown out. Once I put the ten piles all together, I sorted them out and put like items into piles.

Then it was time to pull out the folders. I started labeling them based on what was in our piles of paper.

The folders I ended up with were: receipts, bills, preschool paperwork, home school curriculum, church/bible study paperwork, cards, owner’s manuals, apartment documents, tax returns, legalzoom, and paystubs.


Yes, we have preschool paperwork and home school curriculum all for one child. He does both. I promise a post on why we do this soon.

I scored this file cabinet from my grandmother’s house after she passed away. My plan is to change the locks, handles, and label plates after I paint it. However, I cannot paint it until it stops raining and with this back and forth weather who knows.

What are you letting pile up in your life that you can tackle today?

Maxi skirt tutorial

So I have this green maxi skirt and it allows me to look cute while still being comfortable. Which is a must when you are a parent of a toddler who loves to take off running constantly. So I desired it would be nice to have one that that was not as nice as my Calvin Kline one but still cute and comfortable. So I started off my going to Joanna fabrics and looking at their great selection of jersey knit fabrics. I found this great plum purple fabric that I loved and it was on sale from $12 a yard to $8 plus I had a coupon bringing it down to $4 a yard. I bought 3 years because I wanted some for a future project meaning that I got 3 yards for what it would have cost for 1 yard if it had not been on sale.

So what did I need for this project?
Material list
Jersey fabric
Elastic
Thread
Tape measure
Sewing machine
Iron

First lay out what you will be using as your template. for me it was my green skirt.

Then you lay out your fabric and make sure it is smooth and not wrinkled.You are then going to lay your template over your fabric. This is where you need to decide if you want your skirt to have one or two seams. I decided that I only wanted one seam down the back of my skirt so I folded the fabric over double then layed my template out and cut along the unfolded side to make them the right width. You also need to remember to leave 1/4th to 1/2 inch for seam allowance. Then you cut the fabric in the right length.

Once this is done you will need to move to your sewing machine. I sewed the seam first but you could always sew the bottom first if you wanted. Since jersey knit fabric is so stretchy I made sure to use a zigzag stitch. Once I was done with the seam I moved to the bottom of the skirt. I folded over the bottom 1/4th of a inch ironed it and then folded it 1/4th of a inch and ironed it again to make sure I had a nice clean bottom to my skirt.

Once I was done with the bottom I cut my elastic to 1 inch smaller than my waist measured.I like to be sure that my skirt is not going to come down the second my son grabs it otherwise that could be quite embarrassing. Then I sewed one side of the elastic to the back seam. I made sure it was down enough that I could fold the fabric over the elastic and not sew the actual elastic. Make sure you continue to do this all the way around and once you get to the end of the elastic you will have to push the fabric down along it which will make a ruffle effect.Then continue doing this until the end of the elastic reached the back seam again. You will then sew that part of the elastic into the seam and close the top of the skirt. Now just flip it right side out and you are left with a cute new maxi skirt.



Isn't it cute? I love having something cute and comfortable to wear to the grocery store. This skirt took 1 hour to make. Not bad right? It only cost $12 and I still have a ton of fabric left over. Not to mention it is so easy that my sister who is totally not able to do crafts any harder than a 3rd grade level could do it. Send me pictures of your finished skirt!



If you are joining from welcome.

Dirty dishes... Blessing or a curse?

So the one area of our apartment that truly bugs me if it is messy is the kitchen. It makes me feel like we are a bunch of pigs if it is not spick and span. Now many of you feel like the kitchen is your area of the house. You do the cooking so you also work to keep it clean. Well in our apartment that is not always the case. Usually my fiance cooks breakfast once a week on Sunday morning while i get ready for church and dinner once to twice a week while I am at bible study or have babysat that day.

I know I know I am very lucky to have a amazing man who can actually cook. I really am very very grateful to him for doing that and his food is amazing. However the part that I can not stand is when I leave the kitchen presentable and come home to this.  I feel as if I could lose my mind. I mean look at this huge mess. Who would want to come home to this? I realize he was nice enough to cook and that he made it easier for me to go have some me time but really? He could not have loaded the dish washer? So his feelings are that since I am the since he made a meal I can clean it up. Which would be nice if only he did the same thing and cleaned up after I made food.
Well that just was not going to be something that was going to happen so what is a girl to do?

Of course I always wind up cleaning it up and making sure that everything is put back where it goes by the time I go to bed.  So how do I do this three times a week without starting a fight? I look for the blessing amongst the dirty dishes. But what in the world could the blessing be? Well I came across this blog post by colorful cravings. I loved her quote on dirty dishes so much I decided to make my own with some paint, a wood plaque and some vinyl that I cut with my silhouette portrait. I think it turned out pretty cute and gives me just the reminder I need.

Twenty minutes later my kitchen is back to normal and I have kept my cool.

So how about you all, what is your pet peeve that your spouse/ significant other does? How do you get through them? What other blessings can you find in your daily chores?