Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew

About a couple months ago I shared about the amazing book I discovered in The Anthropologie Experience post.  How to Sew a Button has been a very helpful and humorous book and I thought I'd share a couple things I've tried from it so far.


How to Make Blueberry Pancakes
{p. 3-4}

So the first time I tried this recipe, I didn't have any blueberries, so I threw in chocolate chips instead.  Oh my, are these the best pancakes I've ever had, made from scratch!  They are so fluffy!  The second time I made this recipe I did have blueberries and they were the biggest ones I've ever seen!  I guess I've only seen fake little blueberry pellets in blueberry muffin mixes or canned ones that have shrunk.  Honestly, the fresh blueberries were a little too big for me and I didn't care for them too much.  Plus they stained Leala's clothes which I'll get to.  But they were made as a special treat for my husband and he liked them.

This is the pancake recipe I'm going to use unless I find a better one, substituting the blueberries for chocolate chips, 'cause that's the way my grandmother made them and that's how we like it!  View the recipe here when you "LOOK INSIDE!" the book on Amazon.com and click on the "First Pages" link.


How to Remove Berry Stains
{p. 113}

When I think Leala's meal is going to be messy, I'll take her clothes off to protect them even though most of them are hand-me-downs, but really cute ones.  This was one such cute hand-me-down and when I saw the blueberry juice that dripped on her top I was mad at myself for not knowing better.  In the back of my head I thought I remembered berry stains having the potential of being permanent.  That's when I remembered that there was a section in How to Sew a Button on how to remove stains.  So I tried it.  I spread the top over a bucket, boiled some water on the stove, and poured it at about what I thought was a foot over the stain.  I didn't have a kettle, so I will say that pouring boiling water from a pot got pretty messy.  I had to use the handle of the bucket too to help hold the garment in place.

If you click on the image above to see a larger view, you'll notice that the berry stain didn't come completely out.  However, this method got the stain mostly out.  Spraying the stains (there were three different spots) with stain remover and running the garment through the washing machine I hoped would take the stains completely out.

And how pleasantly surprised I was when I pulled the top out of the dryer to find it looking like new... well, except it needing to be ironed.  =P


How to Curl Your Hair Without Heat

Did your grandmother know how to do this?!  While I was blog browsing, I found this tutorial on how to curl your hair with just an elastic headband on Soul Singing Liv's blog.  Since I didn't have a hairband, I just grabbed a piece of elastic from my sewing stash, cut it to the length that would fit around my head, and tied it off.  My husband said it looked like a real headband with a cute little bow on it.  As was suggested on both the video and the blog for those with thick hair, I let my hair dry almost completely before tucking it in around the elastic hairband.

As Olivia mentioned in her post, "The key to smooth curls that will last all day is PRODUCT."  However, for our budget, hair styling products are considered an extra, so I didn't get the tight curls the lady in the video and Olivia got.  But the elastic hairband method did make my hair curly and since I have naturally oily skin, I didn't need to use a hair product to take the frizz out of my curls.  I could maybe use something to tame my fly away frizz in the front though.  =P

Q.  What have you learned from your grandmothers?
        (Please post your answers in a comment below.)

Bargain Books

Tuesday is the day we try to reserve for family time since the only other day Gregg has off from work is Sunday which we view as a day to be given to church, for personal instruction and encouragement, service to our Youth Group, and opportunities for fellowship after the services are over at the building we meet at.

This past Tuesday we thought we'd check out the Crown Books store that opened up near our house.  It's a used bookstore and with the coupon we received in the mail, I thought we might find some good books on discount.  We only had a little bit of spending money, so we ended up going with just Hop On Pop for under $3.  The book is kind of our family joke because Leala likes to literally hop on Gregg's stomach when he's lying on the floor trying to relax, either after a long day at work, or not long after dinner [laughs].  When Leala would hop on Gregg, I'd tell him I had a book as a kid titled Hop On Pop, so it was funny when he found it in the store.  Sifting through the stacks of books, I came across several I had as a kid.  It was funny hearing other customers commenting on the books they found that brought back childhood memories.  Gregg had me read one he remembered reading in elementary school.

It's been neat seeing Leala take more of an interest in the book collection we've been building for her.  One of the books she lets Gregg read all the way through to her is Dr. Seuss's ABC which he got for free at a shelter after he volunteered there when we last had the big local wildfires a few years ago.  Watching Gregg read with Leala has brought back special memories of my dad teaching me to read when I was little.  Being parents now ourselves, it blesses me to see the things we get to pass on to the next generation. 

I love finding books at discounted prices for Leala!  At the beginning of this year, when we decided to peruse our local 99 Cent Only Store for fun, I found 1, 2, 3, Cook (Ratatouille).  I've also discovered that our local Dollar Tree store has great books too and have spotted ones my aunt has gotten for Leala as gifts like Excuse Me: A Story About Interrupting, Kid's Playtime Prayers, and Kid's Friendship Prayers.

I'm sure you've noticed that Target has a dollar section.  I found Turtles Take Their Time (Rabbits Really Rush) for $1 before the Easter holiday this year.

As I've been trying to find links to these books, I'm realizing that you really have to get these books when you see them in the store because you may not be able to get them later, and definitely not for only a dollar.

A friend of mine posted some tips about Buying Books Affordably recently on her blog.  As she mentioned, I have also bought books at a discount on half.com, in library bookstores, at thrift stores, and as I wrote in my post, Little Treasures, at a rummage sale.

Flip Flop Decorating Party [Part 2]

Well here it is; the long anticipated pictures from the Flip Flop Decorating Party I hosted at my house!  Thanks to Dalana, I can post most of the flip flop creations the girls came up with.  Judy still needs to go through Computer Science 101, so I don't think I'll be getting her pictures any time soon.  =P

These are the prototypes that Kayla and I made to give the girls some ideas on how to decorate their flip flops.  A lot of them came up with their own original ideas and amazed us with their creativity.

Trudy workin' on her flip flops.

Terren decoratin' hers.

Photo courtesy of Dalana Martin.

I loved the rainbow rhinestones on black!  Terren gave the flip flop straps a coat of glitter too.

Sisters, Adela and Izzy, and Terren (photo courtesy of Dalana Martin).

Trudy and Megan (photo courtesy of Dalana Martin).

Lauren and sisters Tia and Sierra (photo courtesy of Dalana Martin).

If we were voting on the flip flops, I think this one should have been awarded the "Most Embellished!"

 

Okay, so there were 3 Sierra's at the party.  Though it was comical when all of their heads would turn when I was addressing only one of them, I felt bad that they didn't know which one's attention I was trying to get.  So by the end of the night I said that I would properly call them by their last names, hence the photo above being labeled "Miss Christian's."  =)

Photo courtesy of Dalana Martin.

I love how Sierra wove 2 different colors of tulle with a thin ribbon together and glued the braids on top of the flip flop straps.  The gold bows were a nice finishing touch!

Sierra and Aimee (photo courtesy of Dalana Martin).

This was one of my favorites because the colors reminded me of Disney's Cinderella (my favorite Disney Princess), so I dubbed these the "Cinderella Flip Flops."

Caitlin and Tanya made matching flip flops.  I really liked Caitlin's black and pink combo!

Sisters, Kamea and Miranda (photo courtesy of Dalana Martin).

Photo courtesy of Dalana Martin.

Photo courtesy of Dalana Martin.

 

Several of the girls got creative with the ribbon.  Debbie's reminded me of bumble bees.

Judy decorating a pair for Tessa.

Kayla got this cute package of heart buttons I think from Walmart.  I had to use them on the little pair of flip flops I got for Leala since her middle name is "Heart" (her first name means, "loyal, faithful").

 

I used two little heart rhinestones to cover the button holes on the hearts.

We had various shades of nail polish out on the patio to give the girls something fun to do if they finished decorating their flip flops before the party was over and to make nice photos like Kayla's.

Flip Flop Decorating Tip:  

On all the flip flop decorating tutorials I found online, like Martha Stewart's here or this one on Coley's Corner blog, they suggested using a strong glue like E-6000.  I took their advice and bought a tube at Walmart for only a couple bucks (they have a great affordable craft section) and it proved to hold ribbon, silk flowers, and various other embellishments on better than Flip Flop Glue or hot glue.  So if any of you girls who went to the party are needing to repair your flip flops, use E-6000 or as one girl shared, she used some super glue they had lying around at home.  We were joking around about having a "Flip Flop Repair Day."

 

For a tutorial on how to make these easy tulle tote bags, go here.  And if you missed it, make sure to check out Flip Flop Decorating Party [Part 1] for some more creative ideas.

What Freedom Means to Me

Last night I remembered that Leala had a couple of patriotic hand-me-down dresses hanging in the closet that needed to be worn this year because by next 4th of July she will be too big for them.  I don't ever remember dressing up in red, white, and blue for 4th of July, but I remembered one family who does.  One of my favorite bloggers, Amber, regularly dresses her family in matching colors for her blog posts.  Last year, for the 4th of July, was no exception.  I looked up her 4th of July post from last year because I remembered her family doing something special to celebrate the holiday and I thought it would be a cool tradition to start with our family.  One of them was reading "freedom" verses from the Bible like:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

I love doing word searches through the Bible and thought looking up "freedom" verses to read and meditate on on the 4th of July was a great idea!  One of the ones that have come to my mind is:

"For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13, NLT).

As a Christian, that's what freedom means to me.  The country I live in may give me the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but as a Christian, those are governed by God's law summed up by Jesus when He said:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind'... and... 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:36-40).

I liked the point our pastor made at the end of our church service this morning.  He encouraged us as we celebrated our country's independence tomorrow, to remember that we're dependent on God and interdependent on one another in the body of Christ.  Well said.  The independence I celebrate the most is a life free from the bondage of sin.  One of my favorite verses that I believe defines true life is what Jesus said in John 10:10:

"The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

At the beginning of our church service we sang "The Wonderful Cross" and I think it's a great song to remember on the 4th of July.  Maybe every 4th of July our family's tradition will be to sing worship songs together and read verses that remind us of true life, liberty, and happiness.  The whole song is great, but the line that always sticks out to me is:

"Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all."

We're reminded repeatedly in this country, and especially on the 4th of July, that our freedom wasn't free.  Lives were sacrificed to gain our freedom and lives are continually being sacrificed to preserve our freedom.  As Christians we need to remember that our freedom, our salvation, wasn't free either.  It was bought at a price, so in gratitude, I need to use my being in a way that brings glory to God (see 1 Corinthians 6:20).  I like what Nancy Leigh DeMoss said at a True Woman conference about counting the cost.

Q.  What are your 4th of July traditions?

I know some families have barbecues or make special food in celebration of the holiday.  I would like to start doing that.  I'm making these Brownie 'N Fruit Kabobs.  Don't they look yummy?