Jello Playdough

Coco here....

Soooooo I have a couple of bored little kids today, and I thought I would try another pin I've been eyeing.

Jello Playdough!!

The link from the original pin is:

Source: playdoughrecipe.org via Kate on Pinterest

I made a few amendments, based on the comments.  By the way, tip for any sort of pin activity, ALWAYS READ THE COMMENTS!!  It will invariably save you a lot of grief...  The recipe omits to mention that you need to cook the ingredients,  and per the comments, make sure that it is on LOW heat, this stuff burns easily.  I also used a large non-stick frying pan (as suggested in the comments) and I'm glad I did, as I'm pretty sure it made clean-up a thousand times easier.  Here are the supplies I used.  (all stuff I already had lying around, which makes it about 12000 times more likely that I will actually do something):

I used Olive Oil instead of Baby Oil.  A. I already had some. B. My kids aren't inclined to eat play-dough, as a rule, but they know this one was made with Jello, and it would not surprise me if they gave it a try.

I mixed all the ingredients together, threw them in the pan, and stirred.  And stirred.  And stirred.  It took a while.  Once it balls together in the pan, plop it out onto a piece of wax paper.  Don't be an idiot, like I was, and put it on the wrong side.  *sigh*  Oh well, it was an easy enough fix...

Ok, the dough has cooled.  Be aware, you will need to add a LOT of flour to get it into non-sticky play dough consistency.  There is also a lot of kneading involved.  Much like a fairly sticky bread dough.  Here are the results:

It doesn't look like much, but the kids are currently playing with it, and seem to really like it.  The olive oil also means that my hands feel smooth and soft after all that kneading. ;)  I don't know how well it will keep, but the comments suggest that an airtight, refrigerated container will keep it pretty well.  We shall see....

Verdict:  Success!

Microwave Cleaning Made Easy

                                                                     Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Kate on Pinterest

The microwave is one of my least favorite things to clean.  But thanks to the this super easy tutorial, I may actually not  mind cleaning my microwave

All I needed was 1 cup of vinegar (which I buy in bulk at Costco because it seems you can do just about anything with plain ol' vinegar!), and a cup of water. Microwave for 10 minutes. Wipe out the microwave. 

NO SCRUBBING

NO EFFORT

Could cleaning a microwave get any easier??  You can bet my microwave will be clean from now on! 

Here is a photo of my results.  

Shower Caulk Mold Removal

Hi everybody!  This is coco, and it is my first post!  When my bestest bud told me about her idea for this blog, I thought it was an awesome idea, and promised to contribute to it. Erm, three months ago.  I'm not what you might call "super on the ball" these days...  At any rate, I was mucking about on pinterest last week, pinned a few totally awesome ideas, and realized that I will never ever do them.  Ever.  Soooooooooo, I am going to try to start actually doing some of the things that I'm pinning.  *Gasp*  I know.  Quelle concept...  I figure on trying one pin a week, or thereabouts.  That should be doable, as it can be any sort of pin, including recipes, and those are easy to try. 

So.  For my first pin......  (there is a drumroll going in my head, for what it is worth)

Shower Caulk Mold Removal!!

Source: thisblessedlife.net via Kate on Pinterest

I know.  Ew.  I can't stand mold in any form, and the mold that grows on the caulk around a bathtub just makes me start to imagine huge mold colonies forming behind the tile on my bathroom wall.  ew ew ew ew ew.  It is so hard to get rid of, being constantly exposed to moist heat, i.e. mold nirvana...  Hence my excitement when I came across this pin!  The idea is: take a cotton perm coil.  Soak it in bleach.  Line the caulk on the tub with it.  Leave it overnight.  In the morning, remove it, and scrub the heck out of the tub.  Enjoy your sparkling clean, 100% mold free tub.

Let's hope it works that way....  (fingers crossed)

Here is the gross gross before:

My Supplies:

I put bleach in the pie pan, soaked the coils in them, and squeezed them out.  I didn't have them in the photo, but I wore rubber gloves...  Then I laid the cotton along the lines of caulk, and let it sit all day.  My house smelled like a swimming pool.  Was it worth it? See for yourself....

The Results:

That is a crappy picture, taken with my phone, but in person it is even more impressive.  By the way, that involved ZERO scrubbing!  I will be doing my bathtub next...........


Verdict: TOTAL SUCCESS