Best Roasted Chicken Ever.

When I was younger, my mom always loved buying the roasted chickens from Sam's. They were the cheapest AND the BIGGEST. When I grew up and lived on my own with my child and significant other, my friend gave me a recipe for that because I wanted to save money. This costs the same but you get way more chicken, it's fresh (juicy and not dried out), and easy.

What is important here is that I had to change the cooking time and temp to fit MY GAS STOVE. She had electric and cooked @ 400º for 2 hours. When I did that it was the driest thing ever BUT I DIDN'T GIVE UP! The next time I did it for 1.5 hours @ 350º there we go! I tested to make sure the chicken was cooked all the way by cutting the breast (the thickest part) and making sure the was NO PINK.

1) Preheat to 350º

2) Rinse the chicken and pull out the gizzard and neck. Why we wash chicken, I have no idea but I was always told to.

3) Put the chicken in a pan and mix the seasonings and butter together and spread or mealt the butter for 10 seconds in the microwave and pour slowly on top. Works best if the chicken is still a bit frozen because then its colder and everything sticks better. I also add fresh basil on top for more flavors.

4) Cook for 1.5 hours then test by cutting the breast (because it's the thickest part) and making sure the is NO PINK!
       4a) If there is, stick it back in there for 15-20 minutes until you have no more pink.
       4b) If there is NOT, take out and enjoy. Don't forget that there is lots more meat on the back too!

Yellow Four Poster Bed Make-Over!

There are three things that I decided, as a child, that make a home ever so elegant: wing-back chairs, coat racks, and a four poster beds. I have the wing back chair (thanks to cheap CL). And now I have my bed! (Also thanks to CL) The lady originally wanted $175 for the frame alone so since I had the CL app I just put it in my favs and watched it. After it was there for over a week I decided to email her and to make a long story short she gave me the bed for $50!

It was pretty scratched up otherwise I would have kept it the original cherry color. I had seen that colored furniture was really becoming "in" so I decided to paint it. Yellow it was!

Because it was a dark color and I didn't want to sand it, I made sure I primed it well. There were so many nooks and crannys, so I used spray paint for both the primer and actual paint. Rustoleum Yellow Sun Gloss was my color. Not too orange and not too green. Juuuust right! What do you think??

Diy Facewash

So I hate to admit but I'm not far from 30 years old and I still get pimples/acne. Sine I'm really into DIY things AND natural stuff. I looked inti washing my face with an oil/castor oil mix and found that I didn't even know that my face hurt from the dryness untill there was a lackthereof! BUT I didn't see much of a change otherwise.

So I was on Pinterest (surprise surprise! ) and found a recipe of coconut oil and baking soda. I figured I had both so why not?! (I use it to cook and as a diaper rash cream..  but I put it in separate containers!) It works basically the same BUT the baking soda acts as a scrub. It is very fine and works great!

I used a 2 to 1 ratio and after I mixed it, it became fluffy! If you have ever used coconut oil you kniw that when it is room temperature, its solid and when you get it on your skin, it turns to silk... ok no really but geeze it feels like it!

 

 

DIY Green Sippy Cup

Ok so I have tried many different sippy cups. The only one Levi, my son, knows how to drink from are the ones with straws. Well they have started growing mold in places I cant get too. I've tried leaving them in bleach over night and ... nothing. So I saw on Pinterest how to make Mason jars into sippy cups! But then I started thinking.... While this is nice and green and inexpensive I'm still giving a toddler glass so I bought on EIO Sleeve. They were a little expensive... But fit perfectly on a half pint jar.

I used a 1/4" drill bit so I believe the grommet size was 3/16"? (I took in a straw to make sure I was getting the right size.) I'm sure I looked funny carrying a straw into Ace Hardware...

You might want to file the edges of the hole down because it will a bit rough. This is where I had my husband feel helpful. I let him put the grommet in. :)

When putting the straw in I got it a little wet and bent the straw in a bit. I actually trimmed the straw because the 1/2 pint cup was smaller than the straw.

 The Total Cost: 12 pk of 1/2 jars = $10.71 which comes out to $0.89 each and the grommets were $0.34 each. $1.22 TOTAL!!!

Update: After using thisfor a little bit we've run into a small problem. It is so leak proof that there is not a continuous way to suck which frustrates Levi. I think I'm going to have to make another small hole for air to come in through and put another grommet on it so he doesn't hurt himself.

Has anyone else run into this problem and how did you fix it?

Dry Homemade Laundry Soap (HE)

So, after making 2 batches of the liquid, I just wasn't happy with the non-smell. So I looked and looked and looked and finally found a recipe that used Purex Crystal Softeners but I substituted those for the Downy Unstopables. (I LOVE THE SMELL OF THAT STUFF!) and our clothes were starting to look dingy... This recipe also includes Oxi Clean. BTW THIS IS GREAT FOR FRONT LOADERS! HE just means little suds which is perfect for front loaders.


Recipe:

• 1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle
• 1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle
• 1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (I actually use the Kroger brand because it is $4 for 3.5lbs as opposed to the name brand $9 for 3lbs.)
• 2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Fels Naptha Bar Soap- Found in the detergent aisle
• 1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals or Downy Unstopables- Found in the detergent aisle (Optional but I do it for smell)

 I dump everything in a new trash bag and carefully roll it around to mix then put it in my gorgeous glass container I got from Wal-mart in the Household section.
 
I use a cup of white vinegar as a fabric softener. I have found that my clothes are whiter after using the vinegar as well. I read somewhere that it is because it works great with the washing soda. NO it does not make your clothes smell like vinegar. In fact, it is a natural deodorizer as well as softener!


 

No Sew DIY Roman Shades

We moved in our house over a year ago... And I'm just now getting around to putting up curtains. Well if you have looked into getting window coverings, you know that they are pretty expensive... Well of course I looked for a cheaper way of getting this gorgeous look and found this blog and decided to give it a try.

All of the tutorials I have looked at use the cheap plastic blinds but the fabric that i bought was much heavier than theirs so I went over to my local Home Depot to see if they had some already cut (but messed up) faux wood blinds. Sure enough they did! So I bought them for $8 and came home and went to work. I can't do things by measuring... for some reason it just does not compute so I did it by looks. I have a fairly small kitchen window and I attached TP to the slats and figured where I want the folds.






When I figured out the placement I then laid the blinds out completely:

Then I went to the bottom and popped off the thingy that holds everything in.

See?

I then removed the necessary slats.

So the next things I did was lay the blinds face down on top of the material. 

Then fold the edge as to hem it.

Then fold the top.

Here's a better look:

Now remember NOT to glue the VERY edge of the top so that you can put it back into the hold and covering it.

Then you glue everything down, fold, and let dry.

Dressing Up Your Thermostat

So one day I was wasting time getting valuable ideas on Pinterest when I came across a weird and completely off the wall post. Putting a frame around the thermostat. Yeah sounds funky but it's actually cool! Here's the original blog and here is my version of it:

Before:

I didn't like the color of the frame but I LOVED the detail. The color was almost gold... yeah Gold is so not in... my house. So I went down to Lowes and bought a $3 can of Rustoleum Silver spray paint and

After spray painting it and letting it dry, I took a dry paint brush and barely dipped it in the lid of the glaze and painted it over the silver paint. I dabbed it in every little nook and cranny on the detailed frame. When I felt it had enough I took one of my husbands red garage towels and wiped it off. Now keep in mind this dries fairly quickly so that why I didn't take any pictures of this process... After that dried I did one more "coat" and let THAT dry and this is what I came out with:

After:

Might as well decorate everything around the house! If you can't hide it, decorate it!

Homemade Febreze

Well as we all know, Febreze is soooo good but oh so expensive. At $4-$9 I can't afford to spray it everywhere like I'd like so I did a little research and found a lot of recipes and made my own!

Everything you need is already around your house (and if it isn't, then you can pick the stuff up anywhere!). I got a spray bottle from the dollar store (or Walmart or Home Depot) for $1.

Items needed for 1 batch:

1/8 Cup Any Fabric Softener (if you use the Gain, it will smell JUST like the Gain Febreze!)
2 Tbl Baking Soda
Fill the rest with hot tap water and you're ready to start destinking your fabrics!

Now I do have to gently shake it up every time because the baking soda settles to the top and make sure the fabric dries before using it!

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

Well I started cloth diapering and choosing a detergent that was cloth AND wallet friendly wasn’t working for me. So I decided to look up some recipes. Everything used in this recipe can be found at Walmart down the laundry aisle! To start making this will cost you no more than $12 AT MOST! (FYI HE just means it doesn’t suds up a lot.) Another note, My husband works in a greasy place making engines and this takes the smell right out! When his clothes are extra dirty I add hydrogen peroxide (instead of bleach because H2O2 is non-chlorinated bleach) But I still don't wash his work clothes with ours.

The items you will need to make 1 batch:

(1) 5 gal bucket (Home Depot’s bucket with lid is better than Walmart’s… in my opinion)

(⅓ -½) bar of laundry bar soap (I used 123 but you can use ZOTE, Fels Naptha, Ivory, or any other laundry bar.)

(½) cup washing soda (I used Arm and Hammer… that’s the only brand I have ever seen)

(½) cup borax powder (Once again the 20 Mule Team is the only brand I have seen.)

(2) gallons water

16 drops of essential oil (optional)

Directions:

• Grate the laundry soap (good way to clean you cheese grater too!!) Since my bar was larger I only did about ⅓ of the bar. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.

 

• Add the ½ cup washing soda (make sure you are NOT using baking soda!!!) and the ½ cup borax and stir.

  

• When it is completely dissolved, remove it from the heat and pour 3 gallons of water into a 5 gal bucket.

• Add the soap mixture and essential oil and stir. (I used eucalyptus because I have always been told it kills dust mites, bed bugs, and other yucky stuff)

• Let the soap sit for about 24 hours until it gels. (It will seem like watery jello!)

• Use a ½ cup detergent per load of laundry.

• If you want to use a fabric softener, vinegar is a great replacement and doesn't make your clothes smell like vinegar.