Play Dough $.17

There are SEVERAL Ways to make home made Play dough. For right now i am going to choose one and go with it. I saw this recipe here. Truth be told. I stay up late. Making crazy things so when we do it again tomorrow and my son is all excited, I make sure I do it right and DON'T disappoint him. So get a pen and paper. Your going to want to write this down! 

1 cup flour -1/2 cup salt -1/2 cut water - Cream of Tar Tar (optional, just for elasticity) food coloring

grab a medium size bowl. Add your Salt & Flour & Water

Mix Salt, Flour and water together and it will be a little crumbly but this is exactly what you want!

Add in your food coloring a little bit at a time and Kneed to mix. And to make sure its the right color you want keep adding a little bit at a time.

Add in your Cream of TAR TAR a little bit at a time. this helps to make it pliable.

Repeat and make more colors! Super fun! Super Easy!!! 

Add your food coloring and kneed your dough to mix the coloring in. Add more to make it more vibrant or less to make a subtle color.  It takes about 10 minutes and about $.17 WOW.. . only 17 cents compared to how much you pay to buy it at the store... No more store bought! Im sticking with this!

Bonding & Learning

As most of you all know, I have one little rambunctious 3 1/2 year old Boy. He is my WORLD! Sometimes I think that I am too nice on him, but one thing I have noticed is we aren't spending time together like we did when he was littler. So what can i do to fix that? Well hrm... I have had a few ideas but i needed to take action. We dont know eachother like i want. I dont always know what he likes, wants or feels. Why hes acting the way he is, thats because im not spending time with him! 

 Fun Ideas for you and your kids

Every morning in the ride to school I make up a story, a silly story and ask him questions

"Christopher?" -Yes momma?- "I don't think i can drive anymore.Can you drive yourself to school?" -NOOOOO... I cant do that- "WHAT!?!!?! WHY NOT! YOUR A BIG BOY!" - No momma, im to little!- "NOO WAY! What do you mean YOUR TOO LITTLE!?!?!" - Come one momma, YOU NUTS!- "hahahahaha yess momma is crazy! Hey do you see that farm there?" - Yes momma- "What if we lived on a farm with all of the pigs and cows?" - NOO... they smell!- "doesnt daddy smell?"- hehehehe-- --- By that time we are at school and we start to talk about all the fun we are going to have and how i cant wait to pick him up!

Let him help you with dinner. If i am making waffles or pancakes, noodles, or anything simple. I ALWAYS let him help, Especially Pizza! No matter what i let him help. He feels a sense of pride to know that i made dinner. and I Blame it all on him, good or bad :) hehehe  

Some kids have a hard time brushing their teeth and honestly he was one of those kids. It used to be a fight. Now "MOMMA DENTIST to the RESCUE!" After i brush his teeth, hes dentist Christopher and brushes mine! hehehe I always have to do it again but thats not the point. It makes him feel special. 

Play Dough. My son loves play dough. We have a few rules. None on the couches or Recliner but we can play in the kitchen. We roll it out and use our cookie cutters and mix them all together. We play for around 45 minutes + just with play dough. There is a recipe for home made play dough here 

Cloud Dough- Cloud do is an awesome activity to do with your little one. One thing you will ave to learn is "ITS OKAY IF THEY MAKE A MESS!"  Set the rules but when they are having fun don't ruin the time by yelling at them. Just clean it up later. Use my recipe to make your own Cloud Dough

Rice- Let them play with rice! Get out your measuring cups and poor it from cup to cup. Bowl to bowl. Play WITH THEM, laugh, giggle, and be silly. Make up stories, get their imagination going! Get them wondering about answers that they answer.

On a nice night after dinner. Grab some blankets and go out side in your back yard. Bring some pillows as well. Lay out on the grass and watch the stars, moon, clouds, planes and birds go by. Ask him what he sees, What he hears, make it a fun game. Bring some cool books for you two to read and just have fun. Nothing serious or strict and make him "dissapear" under the blanket, like you lost him. Laying out in the grass is FREE, Simple and my son loves it! We make up songs about what we see or hear and just laugh. Great bonding experience.

Make and play with the Toddler Sun Catchers Its is fun... SO do it!

If you do these simple little things, you will start to notice the difference in you and your child. Most of the time when kids wont "shut up" and wont stop screaming or hanging on to you, they want to spend time with you. they long for it.. So do it! Its your job not to raise a snot nose brat. TV doesn't teach that. People do. All of these Crafts and activities will help you not only bond but will help them learn! Learn how to pour, learn how to build and be creative, keep them thinking, keep them smart! When kids are bored is when they get in trouble the most.

If that doesnt look like fun i don't know what is!

Make Shake 'N Bake

I LOVE Kraft's Shake 'N Bake. It is easy, Fun to do but Truth is I think I have used it a handful of times. The reason why I don't use it because it is just to expensive. So there is a way to get AWAY from the Boxed foods and Make it Yourself!

There are a few ways you can substitute Shake 'N Bake. 

Keep in mind with these recipes you can substitute "Crackers" with anything Crunchy, Such as; Corn Flakes, Doritos, Potato Chips, Gold Fish, Cheeze-It (any Flavor)

#1. Is Italian Bread Crumbs.

#2. Original Chicken

• 4 cups flour
• 4 cups finely crushed saltine crackers
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp. onion powder
• 1 Tbsp. pepper
• 3 Tbsp. paprika

Same Baking instructions as below. 

#3. Cheeze-It/ Gold Fish Mix

• 4 cups Flour
• 4 cups Crushed Cheeze-It/ Gold Fish Crackers
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 TBSP Sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp. Garlic Powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp. Onion Powder
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 3 tbsp. Paprika

#4 My Favorite
       -Italian Parmesan Chicken

• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Packet dry Italian seasoning

             =  AMAZING! Happy Making!

Mix all ingredients together. This is going to be a large batch so it lasts a long time. Store in an air tight container. Container is better so it lessons the Spills. 

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
-Place 1 cup Homemade Shake and Bake Coating Mix in a shallow bowl. When placed in bowl Drizzle vegetable oil over mixture and mix in. (oil optional)

-Rinse chicken/fish/pork pat dry. 
-Dip chicken/fish/pork into beaten egg, buttermilk, milk, or salad dressing to coat, then dip into Homemade Shake and Bake Coating Mix.
- #4 only needs to be washed with water and dipped into mixture.
-Place on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees. Bake 20-30 minutes for boneless chicken/fish/pork strips. 
-Bake 30-50 mins for bone-in chicken pieces or until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. 

Enjoy! Experiment. No kids or husband likes a boring "same old" dinner! Spice it up!!!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent

This is amazing. I have been searching around for NEW Laundry Detergent recipes.. I stumbled onto this pretty cool website, Being Creative. I really Loved my other one but this has trumped any and all laundry detergents I have ever used!

It smells amazing! WORKS AMAZING! My cloths are coming out cleaner and softer.
It is a powdered laundry detergent but that just means its EASIER! Im sticking to this and not going back to liquid. No more Melting down my soap and keeping it in my 5 gallon bucket. Powdered laundry detergent all the way!

So lets start with whats in it...

1 - 4lb box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 - 3lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1 - 4lb Box 20 mule Team Borax
2 small oxy clean OR 1/2 a container big bucket (optional)
3 bars fels-Naptha or 3 bars Ivory

For 5-7 months your Laundry Soap will Cost you Less than $15.00

Grate your Soap Bars.

It was pretty easy to mix it all together. Open every box and put it in a container. Add the grated soap. And mix it with a spoon, then put it into my container. and mixed it again.

I went to Wal-Mart and i got this cool container. It was about $5.00 (one time buy) -- Not to shabby- I used the scooper from my Oxy Clean Bucket .

-This detergent is safe for HE washers!

-This detergent is safe to use on sensitive skin/babies/children. (my husband, son and I all have allergies to detergents, we have not had ONE Problem with this! We can not use, cheer, gain, or tide due to itching and rashes)
-It does not have a strong scent, but it is very clean/fresh smelling! You can add laundry crystals to the batch to add fragrance.
-Some of my followers have used other bar soap instead of Zote or Fels-Naptha or Ivory
-Use 1 Tablespoons(TBSP) per load.
-This is fully effective for cloth diapers because it contains baking soda which affects how the diaper is able to soak up liquid. Remove the baking soda, your good to go!
- Great for towels! Leaves them soft with out using fabric softener!
-I am not sure if this detergent is safe for a septic tank or not, you may have to research it and do what you feel comfortable with.

DID YOU KNOW?
Companies add chemicals to your store/name brand detergents to make them "SUD." Just because something suds does not mean it cleans! The HE detergents they make that are "so good for your washer machine" is just the same detergent with the chemical taken out! So we are paying them to TAKE OUT chemicals they originally put in to SUD! This is just crazy to me. YES! It is good for your washer, but not good for your wallet. Just remember something I learned from a friend.

CLEAN SMELLS LIKE NOTHING!

Also, come to find out this is the SAME Exact (minus the oxy clean) Detergent my grandmother used as a kid in the 1940's! She said she rememberd making this as a kid and shes glad its making a come back! Great for the enviornment, great for fabrics, and great for your wallet!

UPDATE: It is now January 22, 2013. This batch of laundry detergent has lasted me 5 months with some left over, I was scared I was getting low so I made more two days ago. It probably would have lasted me another month. We used to go through one 150oz All 2x ultra free and clear every month! In one year that would cost me $144.00. This powdered detergent lasted me 5 months! Putting my savings on HE Kid freindly Detergent at (Walmart) All 2X Ultra Free Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent, 150 oz, $11.97 (96 loads) or Dreft, 100 fl oz, $15.97.(64 Loads) I have saved my family any where from  $114.00- $150.00 Thats AMAZING! Just on laundry detergent? How awesome is that?

Need a cool quick gift for a new mom or a house warming gift??
Pick up for Quart Size Ball Jars and put your laundry detergent in your jar. Make a cute label. Even add ribbon or fabric. Its an amazing GIFT & maybe even great to sell!

If using IVORY soap try not to GRATE it! Here is a Fun way of Making your laundry detergent and having a science experiment for your kids at the same time! Its easier and fun! Make it a family thing! http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/soap-souffle