Over Here

It seems like I always take little videos of Penny and forget to take them of the older girls. Madeline loves being the star of the show and Jane couldn't care less. The best part of the whole video though is what Jane says at the very end. Thus, the reason the video had to end.

Madeline Loves the Camera from Lois Keenan on Vimeo.

Everyone has to "go," some just need help.

Toothpaste

I have been wanting to make homemade toothpaste for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday I finished off my tube of store bought toothpaste, so I decided that it was a good time to make some.

4TBS baking soda
4tsp liquid glycerin
essential oils of choice (I chose basil and peppermint- thanks Lisa)
1tsp stevia powder (thanks Leann)
a little water to make it into a paste

*I love having Lisa and Leann on the block- Sorry if I raid your pantry too much


I think I added a little too much water, but it is still fine. We also have to give it a good stir before we put it on the toothbrush. I just kept a little wood stick in the jar to stir it and apply it to the toothbrush. I have to say, it is really good!

I definitely suggest making this one!

Oh Penny, How I Love You

Penny Cracking Up from Lois Keenan on Vimeo.

Soap Giveaway

Good Monday morning! I wanted to start out the week with a giveaway. My sister Lisa gladly is donating some soap for a fabulous giveaway. Go to her site and pick out your favorite item and post it in a comment below. one winner will be randomly selected. Comments will be closed Friday morning.



Volta Soap

The Random Generator has spoken- #5. That's you Danika!

Recording Friday

Bust out the vodka, time to record some jams.



Yes, that is a little kids tambourine.

Smores

With all the homemade marshmallows I made I decided I better make something with them before they sat in the cabinet for too long. I went to the store and got some grahams and chocolate and viola! smores.




I melted chocolate chips with a little bit of butter on a double boiler, then spooned it on a graham. Then I put a marshmallow on top then another dollop of chocolate then topped it with another graham. It took me 20 minutes or so. Easy Peasy.

Show on Thursday Benifits Haiti

All proceeds go to Haiti. If you haven't found a way to donate money to Haiti, why not rock your face off while doing so.

A Little Motivation

"If you think you can or can't, you are probably right." Kirk Henderson

Just Hanging Out

Madeline and Penny from Lois Keenan on Vimeo.

Homemade Wonderland

If I knew how I was going to react to watching Food Inc. I probably would not have watched it. Ha. I really got motivated to make as many things at home as I possibly could.

Some of my other projects:


Marshmallows





Pasta:




Cheddar Cheese (Jesse's amazing endeavor):






More to come this week? I most definitely need to make more bagels!

(If you have netflix, Food Inc. is on instant watch.)

Gibber Jabber English

An Italian singer wrote this song with gibberish to sound like English. If you've ever wondered what other people think Americans sound like, this is it.By Adriano Celentano.

This video rules.

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Girl Snake

On Monday my sister had Madeline and Jane over for a nap time sleepover. Because of things (to embarrassing to mention) that happened during their naps, they came home in different outfits. Both of these outfits consisted of a pair of my sister's tights and a t shirt. As soon as they got home Madeline's shirt came off and she became an armless body. It was awesome.

Bagel Making

So I have been wanting to make bagels for a while now and I thought that I would just go for it. I have been trying to make as many things from home as I can lately. (can you tell?) I followed this guy's recipe which was pretty easy.
I haven't tasted them yet but man, the house does smell pretty amazing! (ok- they are delish! I couldn't wait until dinner- ha!)






I put sesame seed, flax seed, and garlic on top. (I also have a couple cinnamon and sugar ones.) MMmmmmmm. Maybe I will have to make egg and cheese on bagels for dinner tonight!

Making Homemade Ricotta

Yesterday afternoon Jesse and I wanted to attempt to make our own ricotta cheese. All three girls were asleep napping so we decided to go for it. It was a lot easier than I even thought was possible- and really tastes so good.

First we heated up 4 cups of milk in saucier and constantly stirred it over medium heat.


Once the milk hit a slow boil we added 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice. (Thank you for the lemon juice Leann- just one of the reasons I love that you live on the block!)


After a couple of minutes we noticed that the milk started to curdle. So we kept on stirring.


We had a hard time trying to figure out when the milk was done curdling but we kept on stirring and kept it on med-low heat.


As soon as the curds really started to seperate from the liquid we decided to take it off the heat and get ready to pour it into our strainer.

I took an old t-shirt (thanks lana) that I had laying around and used it as my make-shift cheese cloth. I poured my mixture into the t-shirt-on a strainer- on a bowl to catch the extra fluid.



We let it sit for about 3 or 4 minutes until it stopped dripping.


Then I tied the top of the t-shirt to make a little pouch then hung it from my kitchen faucet for about 15 minutes.


Then I dumped the cheese into a bowl and sprinkled with salt and broke it up a bit.


I put it in glass jar and now plan on making baked ziti tonight. Sweet!


It was so easy and tastes so good. You can really taste that it is fresh.
This recipe makes about 8 oz of cheese. We wanted to try it with a small batch, but next time I plan to double the recipe.

Mamma's Helpers

We discovered a couple days ago that Madeline and Jane can really start "helping out" around the house. It's pretty amazing how they like to be mommy's (and daddy's) helpers.

Feeding the baby:




Giving the baby a bath:





And of course, doing the dishes:





They actually were pretty good at washing the dishes, we should do that every night!

"New" Furniture

I finally got rid of the most wobbly ikea wardrobe and found an awesome piece of furniture on craigslist to fill the spot.
The last couple of days I have been busy cleaning out all the old clothes the girls don't wear or fit them any more and organizing, well, just about everything on the 3rd floor.
It has felt great to start really unloading all the things they don't need or use. I think I have made 3 trips to the thrift store in the last couple of days to drop of donations. Spring cleaning in the winter I guess.





I really love how the playroom is coming along too. I just wished they would play up there a little more. Ha!







With the girls obsession with Mary Poppins lately, my sister bought the girls this cute wall decal for Christmas.

Penny Loves the Camera

My favorite part about this video is when you hear Madeline say "Daddy, I really love you all the time...in the whole wide world."

Boudoir

I like how my bedroom has been feeling lately. My Omi got me these super cool detachable wall flowers for Christmas that I really enjoyed hanging up. I love (most days) how having a home is a constant work in progress. I love the feeling of organizing and decorating, moving things around and bringing home nic nacs and furniture from the thrift store or the side of the road. It never gets old! I am guessing that probably 80% of all the furniture in my home came from the thrift store, side of the road, craigslist or was a hand-me-down. One more way to recycle, right!

On a Roll

After sewing up a bunch of baggies yesterday I decided to make some fabric napkins while I was at it. I just so happened to have a 50% linen 50% cotton blend fabric, perfect for napkin making! I think I was able to make 16 of them.
It feels good to feel like I am saving money in little ways. It also got me inspired to call Comcast and ask for them to lower our bill- which they did by $60!!! Gotta love that triple play.

Reusable Sandwich Baggies

I feel like I am always trying to find little ways to recycle more and to reduce our use of plastics. I saw the idea on a mommy blog about how to make your own reusable sandwich wraps. I figured I would try it out- but made my own very simple pattern to be more like a bag for snacks as well.

What you’ll need:

*Polyurethane laminated fabric
--PUL refers to any fabric that has been laminated with polyurethane on one side to make it waterproof. I bought my PUL at Kids in the Garden
* 1-inch length of 3/4-inch-wide Velcro tape (or whatever you have lying around the house)
* Pinking Shears



Tutorial:

First I cut a piece of the PUL at 7''x17'' with pinking shears.

*see bottom for added info before sewing

I hemmed both short ends by folding over twice and stitching.

Then I had to find where I was going to put my velcro. I folded the short sides over to find the middle of my fabric and marked it with a pin. I then used a ruler an placed the velcro 1.5" down from the center of the pin on the "right" side of the fabric.


Then sewed it on.


I then found the center of opposite side of fabric and marked it with a pin. I placed the other piece of velcro right under the hem on the "wrong" side of the fabric and sewed it on.


I then made my pocket by folding the bottom up (where the velcro on the right side is) and measuring 5.5" then pinned it to keep it from slipping.


I then sewed along the "long" sides of the fabric making a pocket. I stopped at the top of where my hem was and back tacked a couple of times to make sure that the seam would hold.


I then made my corners by pinching the bottom of the corner making a triangle.




I pushed the seam over to face the back of the pouch and measured one inch from the top of the triangle to the middle of my seam. I then sewed across to make the corner.


Then I cut the excess off with pinking shears.



That's about it. The first three are in the wash right now. I will let you know how they hold up in the washer and dryer. I am a little concerned that the raw edges might fray a bit, but I am hoping that pinking the edges and having the plastic coating on the back side of the fabric will help keep it from fraying.



*So I washed the bags and they were fine as is, but I wanted to make them a little bit more "heavy duty."
All I did (which I recommend) is to add an additional single folded seam to the long sides of the fabric before you hem the short sides.
When I snipped the corners, instead of using pinking shears I used regular scissors then finished it with a zigzag stitch to bind it.
Overall, these 2 little extra steps will make it way more durable.