Frozen Giveaway!

Have you seen the movie “Frozen”?  I haven’t.  I know, I know!  But I’ve got it on pre-order and the DVD will arrive tomorrow.  My little boys and I are planning our own personal viewing night, complete with popcorn and hot chocolate.

Speaking of which…

If you haven’t seen “Frozen”, but most especially if you have and you LOVE it and you’re planning on getting the DVD – hold on just one second.  The Mac and Cheese Chronicles is a proud sponsor of this amazing giveaway.

1173842_10152273792659378_2046764294_nCheck it out! The “Frozen” DVD and the soundtrack,  a Movie Enhancement Package of Yum (I made that up) that includes hot chocolate, marshmallows, popcorn AND an Olaf mug, a Mickey and Minnie Poster and a $100 Disney Gift Card.

I’m dying here because I can’t enter.  But you can, and it’s really simple.  Behold – here’s a Rafflecopter Contest Whatchamahoozit.

And, for those of you who are entirely sick of being Frozen (I’m looking at you, Maryland, with your 8 1/2 feet of snow) – how about a vacation in sunny Florida or California?  Go over there on my sidebar and scroll down until you see my affiliate link.  My friend Jennifer will hook you up with some sweet Disney vacation deals.  She can help you with either FL or CA. She’s the one who put this whole giveaway together.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day coming up, this is my recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage in the crock pot.  Need I say that it is quick and easy?  And yum! I didn’t make anything special for St. Patrick’s Day for years until I found this recipe because I never knew just how easy corned beef is.

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients

  • 4-5 medium red potatoes, quartered
  • 2 c fresh baby carrots, halved lengthwise
  • 3 c chopped cabbage
  • 1 corned beef brisket (3 1/2 lbs), with spice packet
  • 3 c water

Instructions

  1. Place potatoes, carrots and cabbage in slow cooker.
  2. Cut brisket in half, place over vegetables.
  3. Add water and contents of spice packet.
  4. Cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours or until the meat and vegetables are tender.
https://themacandcheesechronicles.com/2014/03/15/crock-pot-corned-beef-and-cabbage/

Ash Wednesday

How is it March already?  I think January and February speed by the fastest of all the months, which is sad for me because I love winter. I’m just glad that this year, Lent and Easter have held off until February was over.

Last year, Bip and I started a Lent Lapbook.  If you’re a homeschooler, you are probably at least vaguely family with lapbooks as a good hands-on way to teach material on one central topic.  Even though Lent has begun, it isn’t too late to start a lapbook.  I do not possess the organizational skills to actually create one from scratch, so I purchased mine as a download from this site: Lapbooks for Catholics -Lent.   The printable file is $10, which isn’t a bad deal, considering how many pages and activities it comes with.  Most of the activities have multiple options to meet the abilities of a range of children.

Lent Lap BookLent Lap Book 2There is so many activities included that we didn’t even get close to finishing last year.  I chose the things that were most important that Bip learn as a 2nd grader. Now we’re going to add more to it this year and build on what he knows.  This could turn into a multi-year study of Lent for us!

Another good resource for Lent is by my friend Jen over at The Polka Dot Posie.  She has created a free printable worksheet to go along with the popular 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge.  She also has some good ideas for making the challenge more about serving others.  Tell her I sent you! The Polka Dot Posie 40 Bags Printable

40Days Printable

Pinterest Win: Wrinkle Release

When my friend Tami moved away (going on 5 years now!), she left me with a bottle of wrinkle release.  Movers can get funny about what they’ll pack and what they won’t and I guess her movers wouldn’t pack it.  However, mine did and it came with us to Colorado.

I’d never used wrinkle release before, but I loved it!  Too many of my clothes don’t get taken out of the dryer soon enough and they end up a mess.  But then I ran out of wrinkle release and I couldn’t find it anywhere! Seriously, there was a run on it or something.

I found a simple recipe via Pinterest, tried it and it was a winner!  Here’s the link to the recipe:  Homemade Wrinkle Releaser.

I went to the dollar store and bought cheap fabric softener.  Double win!

Here’s one of my tops before:

Wrinkles2Same top, after:

No Wrinkles1No Wrinkles2It really is the same top, just in different lighting as the sun moved.  And it shifted slightly on the hanger when I turned it around to spray the back.

My only warning is this: Spray those wrinkles when you first hang up your clothes.  Don’t wait until you want to wear them or they won’t be dry enough and you’ll end up even more wrinkled.  And maybe cold.

PinWin WrinkleRelease

 

 

All Is Calm: February

AllIsCalm5

Here we are at the end of February already! Did you remember to make some notes on your Year in Review page for January?  If you write a year-end newsletter, you’ll be glad you did!  Don’t worry if you forgot, when you print out this month’s pages and add them to your planner, you can write some things down at the same time.

Speaking of this month’s pages – I’ve got 7 for you!

Christmas Planner Feb2

Cover and Spine

I’ve made you two covers for your planner, one says Christmas Planner and one says Holiday Planner.  You can slip it into the cover of your binder or use it as a cover page, or even as a divider if your Christmas pages are in with the rest of your planner or in your household binder. There’s also a page with spine inserts to match.  Just trim them down to fit your binder.  As always, there is a notes page for all your random thoughts and to-do lists.

Decorations Planner

Next up is the Decorations Planner.  You’ve got to get up and walk around your house for this one, but you can probably count that as exercise, so it’s all good.  What you’re going to do is start at the front of your house and write down the room you are in, then under “decorating plans”, write down the things you put in that room.  You can use the red lines to help delineate your list by room, if that helps, or ignore them if it doesn’t.  Don’t forget to go outside, too!

My Decorations Planner starts off with our entryway.  I have garlands (2) on the stairs, with lights (need to be replaced), and a candy garland entwined.  I tied our Santa’s Marching Band to the small banister.  Nativity scene on the buffet table with random angels and the Jesse Tree.  The Advent calendar hangs on the wall.  I have some Santas in the same area, but I’m not too happy with their placement, so I made a note of that on the page.

So just cruise around your house, looking at each room or area and write it down.  If you remember that you didn’t like something, things need replacing, or there is an idea you’d like to try, write that down, too.  You might need to print this page back-to-back a couple of times.

Ok, enough exercise.

Do you have Christmas Pinterest board?  Now is a good time to start one. Later in the year when the Christmas decorations start appearing in the stores, you can reference your Decorations Planner page along with your Pinterest board and decide what new things you want to try.  Don’t worry, I’ll remind you about this again later. If you need some ideas, you can follow Christmas Pinterest board here: Lorri’s Christmas Board.

Crafts Planner

The Crafts Planner is another brainstorming page.  If you handcraft any gifts, it is time to get planning!! There’s only 10 months left, but we’re not going to panic.  Write down the name of the craft or project, the recipient and the supplies that are needed.  Make a note if you need to buy supplies or you have them in your stash.  Again, you can use the red lines to help separate projects.  And now that all our great craft our ideas are out of our heads and onto paper, we can better plan.  Watch those sale ads for the supplies you need and start crafting as soon as you can!  If you’ve got lots of crafts to make, you’re going to need to grab your calendar and start deciding start-by and finish-by dates for each one.  This worksheet has the potential to get really messy, so don’t worry about needing to transfer the information to a new sheet.

Another thing to do while you’re planning crafts is to locate the instructions.  Are they on the internet?  Go find them and print them out and add them to your Christmas planner.  If the instructions are in a book, write the name under “supplies”.

Family Gift Planner

Yes, there was a gift planning page last month.  Last month was about brainstorming all the people you could possibly need gifts for and some basic gift ideas. This one is specifically for family members who may get multiple gifts. Write the name, the gift you are buying or making, and where to purchase each gift. The last column has a W for wrapped and an M for mailed.  When those tasks have been accomplished, cross off the appropriate letter.  If you buy gifts all year, this list will help you keep track. You might want to come up with your own code for where you’ve hidden the presents and write it in one of the spaces in the w/m column.  MC could be master bedroom closet, G could be garage, B for basement, etc. Don’t forget to write down the code on a different sheet, maybe a notes page.

Here’s the link for February’s pages: ChristmasPlanner February

Go forth and print and plan!

Stormtrooper Photo Op at Disneyland

How to get your picture taken with a Stormtrooper

Stormtroopers at Disneyland are a bit elusive and if you do find them, getting a posed picture is even harder.  But it can be done!

Timing is everything. The Stormtroopers are part of the Jedi Training Academy, and unlike the other characters there, they sort of wander off towards the end of the show.  If you don’t have a child in the Academy at the time, you want to be waiting directly behind the stage or in the area of Star Traders.  StormtrooperAtDisneyland

They will head off towards Star Tours and hang out there for awhile.  However, being Stormtroopers, they aren’t exactly friendly and are more concerned with security than with taking pictures.  Don’t take offense if they turn down your request for a photo!  Try a little Jedi mind trick  – with a slight wave of the hand and a comment like, “I really want to take a picture with you”, you might get lucky. Or you might have to position yourself or your child right in front of them and they will comply.  Just be quick with the camera and know that you will probably only have one chance.

StormtrooperLookingAtMe I was able to get a picture of a Stormtrooper with Bip.  Even though our Stormtooper agreed to the picture, he kept sort of moving off.  I had to get out my Mom Voice, complete with Stern Face, and tell him to stop moving around!  He obeyed my order and held still long enough for a good picture.StormtrooperWithBip

A Monster In the Hole of Your Jeans

A while ago a found a pin on Pinterest where someone repaired a hole in her son’s jeans by making a monster face out of it.  But she didn’t include any instructions.  Hmm. So I figured it out for myself and I even remembered to take pictures for a little tutorial.Monster Face Jean Repair

Supplies:
Ripped jeans
Fabric glue -I used Fabric-Tac, but use whatever you can find, just make sure it is washable.
Iron On patches
Felt scraps in red, white and black

I found all my supplies at Hobby Lobby.  The Fabric-Tac is hard to find, look for it with the fabric paint.

First, cut away all the strings from around the hole. Turn the pants inside-out.

HoleInJeans

Cut a piece of red felt to be a little bigger than the hole.  I think mine was half an inch bigger, all the way around.  I didn’t measure.  I just laid my felt over the hole and drew lines with a pen, then cut it out.

RedPatch

I used an iron on patch to give the felt some stability because  I didn’t think that the felt would last very long on its own. Get an iron-on patch that is bigger than the felt.  The bigger, the better.

Read the instructions for your patch.  Lay your jeans on the ironing board, center the felt over the hole, then center the patch over the felt *adhesive side down.*  Remember that you are working on the inside of the jeans.Patch

Iron the patch onto the jeans and felt, according to the patch instructions.

Turn your jeans right side out.  Now you have a hole patched with red felt!  Cut out eyes from the white felt and pupil from the black felt.  I made my eyes different shapes to be silly.  Cut teeth from the white felt, too.  Position the face pieces however you like them.  Move them around until you get the look you want.

Monster Face

You’ll notice that there is sort of a flap where the jeans fabric overlaps the felt but is not adhered to it.  Position the teeth so that they are just under that flap.  Glue them in place with the fabric glue.  You may need a toothpick to push the teeth into place.  Stick some glue under that flap and glue it down, too.

Glue the eyes into place.

Allow to dry and cure before washing.

Sit back and admire the silliness.MonsterFace

Craft Room Progress

I’ve been working on my craft room for about a month now, off and on as time allows.  Here’s where I am right now. (The pictures are off my phone, sorry for the quality.)

First up, here we are looking in from the door.  It’s pink!  With a window! And carpet!

Craft Room Entrance

To the right of the door is my Wall of Storage.  The brown cubbies will be moved to another room and the beige containers will be replaced with pink ones.  I’m just waiting for them to go on sale again (probably next month).  Everything that is sitting out will be put into fabric bins, too.  This picture has the truest representation of the pink color of the room.

 

Storage wall

My craft table! With Ott light, phone, and the stool Boo assembled for me. Everything under the table is leaving, everything on the table is waiting to be put away.

Craft Table

These two black towers of drawers hold rubber stamps and accessories.  Don’t judge.  This is *after* the first purge when we moved here.

Stamp Bins

And the closet.  We removed the doors and a built-in shelf and stuck the bakers rack in there.  Every single thing that is on the floor in this picture is leaving!!

Craft Closet

I have an actual, functional craft room now!  It’s messy, yes, but I can use it.  I went in there just yesterday to cut paper with the guillotine paper cutter.  Just walked right in, didn’t have to step over anything, didn’t have to move anything out of the way.  Just cut the paper, put the scraps in the scrap bin and left.

It’s dreamy.

Next will be getting those new pink fabric bins, clearing out the rest of the things that don’t belong, and doing a little decorating.

If you promise not to laugh, you can see how it started off here: Craft Room Do Over.

Pinewood Derby Cars Through the Years

Ah, it’s that time again.  The annual Grin-and-Bear-It Fest known as Pinewood Derby.

Why, Cub Scouts, why? Those of us who are woefully lacking in woodworking skills and equipment are already aware of our deficiencies, so we don’t need this reminder. Nor do we need the chance to see how well other parents are able to paint an accurate replica of Lightening McQueen.  (By the way, parents – nobody is fooled.  We know it was you.) And pasting that fake smile on, telling your poor child that yes, his car came in dead last in all heats, but by golly, we had FUN making it!

Can I get an “amen”?

And yet…here we go.

Our cars have been historically slow.  Like, barely finishing the race slow.  But it’s true that they have looked cool.

Our very first year, Boo made a Ghost Car.  He liked the little guy and the fake engine you could buy.
Ghost Car
The next year, Boo made a Humvee.  He painted it all himself.  He used a sponge brush and pounced, pounced, pounced in the direction I told him.

Humvee Pinewood Derby Car

Humvee Car

Pumpkin Girl made this one, complete with glitter.  She called it the Becky Angel Car.

Becky Angel Car

Read about how well this car did here: Showing Her Quality

We had a stroke of good luck the following year with Boo’s Tongue of Flame car that place 3rd in his pack.
Tongue of Flames CarThe American Flag car was Pumpkin Girl’s entry into the Powder Puff Derby that year.  The front of the car is actually the field of stars, so the flag flows back while it goes down the track.  It won first place in her Brownie Troop.

American Flag CarBip entered his own car into the family division that year. He was 3 years old and he did all the green painting himself.  I did the teeth, mouth and nose.

Alligator CarThat ended up being our last Pinewood Derby for a couple of years.  We moved to CO only to find that Web 2s don’t do Pinewood Derby here.  Bip’s next entry into Pinewood Derby was his first time as a Cub Scout.

A little piece of me died when he told me that he wanted an R2D2 car and I realized just how mom-intensive this was going to be.

First, we researched.  Some very over achieving parents have gone to great lengths to make a near-exact R2D2 replica.  I would not be doing that.

First, we found a friend to use magic or a lathe or something to turn the block of wood into a rounded shape for the top of R2.  Then Bip base painted him white.  I tapped off the bottom to be black to show negative space, as well as the flames as R2 burst (in theory) away from the starting block.

R2D2 Pinewood Derby Car

With painstaking work and a ton of masking tape, I had R2 ready for the details.  First silver for his head.  Then tons and tons of blue shapes.  I drew the rest of details for Bip to paint.  What you see is all his work, with some mom assistance.

R2D2 Car

R2D2 was a crowd favorite. Let’s just leave any further commentary at that.

Pumpkin Girl’s entry was a pizza car.  Please note, the wheels look like pepperoni.  Her inspiration was an actual slice of pizza that had a pepperoni stuck to the side.

Pizza Pinewood Derby CarLast year I got off easy, with a Wii remote car.  I also told Phil that it was his turn now to help with the cars.  Ta-da!!

Wii Remote Car Wii Remote Pinewood Derby CarIt was exactly as aerodynamic as you’d think.   When we lose, we look good doing it.

The Wedge O’ Cheese (with mouse) was Pumpkin Girl’s entry.  You know why I like her?  She comes up with her own ideas and executes them independently. It’s hard to see in the picture, but it really is wedge shaped.

Wedge of Cheese CarAnd now Pinewood Derby looms again.  Can someone get me an Exedrin?

A Month of Instagram: January 2014

It was a cold month.

A Month of Instagram1.  New Year’s morning tradition: Eggnog Puffed Pancake
2.  I hung Becca’s rainbow fairy mobile in my new craft room
3.  70 degree difference between us and Disneyland
4.  Dinner is happy to see us (pancakes made on Phil’s new griddle)
5.  Someone made off with my new Ikea trash baskets
6.  LTC Freeze (front and center with the green scarf) has amassed his army.
7.  Asleep with his weapon – a Marine in the making?
8.  I don’t know how his hair does this. My grandpa would have said he has wavy hair…because it stands up and waves.
9.  Forecast high of 61…my boys wear shorts.
10.  Furby play date on my bed.
11.  Boo built me this chair for my craft room. I heart him.
12.  Building lockets with my daughter.
13.  Not quite “light snow”. #ilovewinter #ilovecolorado
14.  Malibu light wishing it was in Malibu.

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