DIY: Swiffer WetJet Solution

**Note: To get the cap off of the container, boil some water and put the container into the boiling water, just far enough to submerge the cap. Hold it there, in the boiling water for about a minute. Take it out and it'll twist off. (Cover it with a towel before you grab it 'cause that sucker will be hot.)

I've refilled my Swiffer WetJet with this solution a couple of times and it does actually work! I prefer to refill mine with a Mr. Clean + water mixture because I feel like it works better and I have nothing against chemicals but, for those of you that like to live green, this is definitely for you!

DIY: Kid Table Revamp

This table has gone through many identities, I wouldn't blame it if it came to life and confessed a need to see a shrink. I bought it for Pokey for his 5th birthday last year, December '13, and it only lasted a few months before he'd ripped up the top. Instead of throwing it in the garbage--it was a perfectly good table, still!--my mom just took off the top, took off the Mickey Mouse plastic and the slight padding that was under it, and recovered it. Voilà! New table! 

Supplies:

• The table
• Something to cover the table with--the first time (bottom left photo), we used a cute shower curtain; every time since then, I've used fabric for the cute part and then I put a clear shower curtain over that, to protect from spills and for easy clean-up.
• Scissors
• Screw driver
• Marker (optional)

How To:

1. Flip your table over so it's laying on the top.

2. Find the brackets that keep the top of the table onto the frame and unscrew them. Mine had three brackets on each side.

3. Take the top off of the frame and, if your kid(s) is (are) anything like mine, you'll have to wash the frame 'cause hello sticky!

4. Once you have the top separated from the frame, spread our your fabric or shower curtain or whatever you're using. Lay the top of the table onto the whatever-you're-using and figure out where to cut so that it's big enough to be wrapped around the bottom of the table-top. This is where I used the Sharpie marker but I suppose you don't have to mark it if you don't want to, you could just cut the fabric while the top is on there and use the table top as your guide.

5. Cut the fabric.

6. This is where it gets kind of tricky and en extra set of hands would be helpful. Pull the fabric up over the table-top so you can put the frame back into place. Like this:

7. Then you can screw the frame back to the top, right through the fabric. That will hold the fabric in place 5ever. But be sure to pull the fabric tight before you start screwing or you'll have a loose, lumpy mess on top when you're done and who wants that? No one, that's who.

8. You'll probably have a lot of extra fabric when you're done, hanging down and being gross, so you can just cut that off.

9. There ya go! Like a brand new table!

Eventually, I want to repaint the frame a more neutral color but that costs money that I don't have right now so it'll have to wait. There are a lot of things I want to paint, actually, but money. Darn.

Recipe: Puppy Chow (aka Muddy Buddies)

Infinitely better than that Muddy Buddies crap you can buy premade at the store.

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 C. peanut butter
• 1 bag (12 oz) chocolate chips
• a splash of vanilla
• 1 box of Chex
• powdered sugar

1. Melt butter, peanut butter, chocolate, and vanilla together.

2. Stir in Chex (I usually use a little less than a whole box--I used a whole box this time and it ended up being too much Chex--the cereal to chocolate/PB ratio was off), coating it well in the chocolate/PB mixture.

3. Toss in powdered sugar, coating it well. (Sometimes I use a giant storage bowl, but I usually use a Ziploc storage bag--I put about a quarter of the mixture into the bag, add some powdered sugar, inflate the bag with my lung air, close it up all the way, and shake it up.  Then I add more of the Chex mixture, more powdered sugar, more air, and shake some more.  I do the same thing with the rest but in a different bag, so that there's room for the air and the shaking.)

*It's usually coated in powdered sugar way better but because I used too much check, there wasn't enough of the chocolate/PB mixture on each piece of cereal so there wasn't as much for the sugar to stick to.  Still very delicious but let this be a lesson to you!

**This is how my grandmother made it, how my mom made it, and now how I make it.  There are other recipes, other ways of doing it, I'm sure, but this is mine and how I've always known it to be.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Ham & Potato Soup

I'm so lucky to have such an adorable sou chef to help me out in the kitchen.  This isn't a meal he'll eat--he doesn't like soup unless it's Ramen--but he absolutely loves to help me make it!

Slow Cooker Potato & Ham Soup

• 3-1/2 C. diced potatoes
• 1/3 C chopped celery
• 1/3 C. finely chopped onion (I use mined onion, nowhere near 1/3 of a cup, because I can't even been in the same area of the house as someone cutting onions, let alone be the onion cutter myself)
• 1 C. diced ham 
• 3-1/4 C. water
• 6 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 5 Tbsp. flour
• 5 Tbsp. butter
• 2 C. milk

1. Cut up the potatoes, ham, celery, and onion.
2. Add to slow cooker with water, chicken bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper.
3. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours, or on HIGH for 4-6 hours.
4. About 20-30 minutes before cook time is over, melt the butter in a saucepan, add flour, and gradually add milk, stirring constantly over medium heat until thick.
5. Stir mixture into slow cooker.
6. Cook for remaining 20-30 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

{Between steps 2 and 3.}

Make-Your-Own: Shamrock Shake

Back in March, I was really obsessed with the Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's but there was no way I could afford buying one (or two or five) every day so I took to the internet!  As it turns out, you can make your own and it's really easy!  This way, I can have my beloved Shamrock Shakes all year 'round AND I don't have to sell everything I own to afford them!

• 3 C. vanilla ice cream
• 1-3/4 C. milk
• 1 tsp mint or peppermint extract
• green food coloring

1. Blend.
2. Top with whipped cream and a cherry.
3. Consume!