Birthday Ideas - Pirate Party

My son would like to have a birthday party this year as he always does, so I need to figure out what type of cake I will make. I have made my children's birthday cakes every year. I enjoy doing it and I feel it will give me something to remember and the joy in their faces seeing their cakes warms my heart.

Last year he had a pirate party. The kids loved it and were talking about it for months after, even the parents would mention it. I think it was for different reasons though, since we did give the kids gems, pirate coins, hats, swords, among other things. But I think it was all fair after seeing some of the gifts that he received.

Here are pictures of his cake:

Here is a picture of the cupcakes as well:

 

 

This is what the table looked like:

This years theme most likely will be a Lego theme, but need to make sure that is what he really wants. On to planning.

Tide Reduces Level of Cancer Causing Agent in their Detergent

I had been a use of Tide and Tide Free and Gentle for years until I learned about what ingredients they used to make their product. One of those being a suspected cancer-causing agent 1,4 dioxane. This toxin is not listed anywhere on the product label or on their website so the consumer had no way of knowing the ingredient was in there. The company has now agreed to greatly reduce the amount of 1,4 dioxane in their product. For the full story on how a great group of people achieved this please view this Article from Groovy, Green, Livin.

Homemade Cleaners - All Purpose Cleaner

In the first of my series about homemade cleaners I am going to talk about what I use for an all purpose clenaer in my home. Most of the time I use homemade cleaning products, but I do have few bottles of Method cleaners as well. However, I am slowly getting rid of those as well. The reason I choose to make my own is the amount of chemicals in the other cleaning ingredients does not make me feel comfortable to use and it saves me money.

I use to have a ton of cleaning products, one for every job, such as toilet cleaner, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, window cleaner, ect. I know that it is hard not to resist all those cleaning products when they claim to do such wonderful things. However now I have learned that having all those products is just not necessary and can actually be harmful to you and your family (I will discuss this in future posts). The all purpose cleaner I use in my home is a mix of vinegar and water. I make it an equal mix of both, which I put in a spray bottle. Some people do not like the smell of vinegar, but I really do not smell it that much. If you like to make a scented cleaner you can add some orange peels to a container or big mason jar of vinegar and let it sit for a few weeks. After if has sat for a couple of weeks you can add it to your spray bottle with some water again 50/50 and you have a scented all purpose cleaner. Here is a picture of my mason jar with some orange peals. It does not have many peels in it right now though.

I use my all purpose cleaner in the kitchen, to wipe off tables, wife off dirt on the lightswiches, cleaning windows, ect.

In this series I will discuss more of my homemade cleaners and some ingredients you may want to avoid in cleaning products if you choose to buy your cleaning products. With that said for me making your own cleaning products is better for your family, better for the environment and not to mention cheaper.

Little Piggie

For Christmas I made my daughter a stuffed pig, as she loves stuffed animals. Her doggie and Mickey go everywhere we go. No tutorial for this just a share, since I used a Simplicity Pattern for it as I have never made a stuffed animal before, so no making that on the fly. When I first read the instructions they made no sense to me and I did not think I was going to be able to pull it off. However, once I started making it, it was quite easy. I did not have any button eyes at the time, so I just made the eyes out of thread. I will be making her more stuffed animals soon and will be making angry birds for my son. Here is a picture of the piggie, along with the blanket I made her:

 

 

 

It was such fun to make the pig and so much cheaper than buying her a stuffed animal from the store. Those can get expensive. I enjoy making my children things and seeing the smiles on their faces when I give them what I have made them. I am now working on a pair of pants for my daughter and some felt food for both the kids. I will post a tutorial for the felt food once I am done working on it.

 


Chosing Organic

I will be putting in this blog about why I have chosen to shop organically and make most of my own cleaning supplies. These are my personal opinions and you can feel free to make your own decisions based on the informaiton I put in this blog.

As I have learned more and more what is in our food and other products it has amazed me. Learning these things has lead me to want to get as much of my food as organic as possible. I am trying to avoid processed food as I know that stuff is not good for you.  I also try to make as many things from scratch as I possibly can so I know what is in my food.Sometimes this is not always possible due to time constraints or just not feeling like doing it. I have a a few friends that are either vegetarian or vegan and while I admire them from this, I know that I could not give up meat or dairy.

This Article in Shape just reiterates what I already know and is part of the reason I have chosen to buy organically. I also plan to buy a juicer once I have saved up the money for a good one, as I think fresh juice is the best especially with the possibility of arsenic in juices and other things. We drink a lot of juice in our house so I think it would be a good investment. Now to just save the money.

Welcome to My Blog

Hello everyone! I have decided to start a blog as I love to write and would like to share my ideas. I am a work at home mom. Being a work from home mom gives me double duty most of the times with having to work from home, but also be a stay at home mother. I have a six year old who is in school, but my two year old is home with me. This blog is a work in progress, as I will be tweeking how it looks, ect, but was too excited so I wanted to start blogging and work out the kinks as I go. I will share all kinds of things on here from going organic, to sewing projects, craft projects and recipies. As the blog title states I will share a lot of things as I like to do a little big of everything.