day 241: library book storage

the finished library book storage .. happy days

day 241 and the final touches are going on in the classroom today so it is all finished for tuesday when we start back at school after the summer holidays.  today i am using a pinterest found solution for library book storage as my creation.

i am always chasing library books around our house in order to return them before they are due, it drives me absolutely barmy as both peeps use the library A LOT.  that means LOTS of our time is spent finding books and i am sure it's because we have never had a proper place to store library books once we bring them home.

i went on a picture tour of lisa's home school classroom from pieces of us and found heaps of ideas for our classroom and was completely inspired by her family of 8 ... yikes!  i pinned her library box idea to my ideas for organisation board on pinterest, knowing that i would begin one this school year.

instead of using a box, i found these wire baskets at the hardware store that will fit the books for each child perfectly.  i really liked the idea that it wasn't another thing to house on the floor or on top of a table.  we have put them up next to the reading area in the school room and i made name tags for each one so they would know where they were to be returned to.  to reinforce this putting back idea, i have added clips to the front of each basket so they can attach their library loans printout so they will know what's to be returned to the basket ready for library day.  for those peeps that are able to do this and all books are accounted for on a friday (our library day), without the need for a full scale treasure hunt, there will also be an addition reinforcement of $1 rewarded to them.

the 'handy'  baskets for the library book storage :)

i put them right next to the bookcase in the classroom and also next to the reading area which is on the left of this picture 

finished and ready for all ben's books, we go to the library once a week so this will hopefully save us a lot of searching time!

outcome:  here's hoping that having an immovable place to store, retrieve, and return library books to will stop the valuable time we lose looking for library books.  i am hoping the addition reward will help them remember to return the books to the baskets.  i will let you know in a couple of weeks just how that is going ;)  the good news is at least we now have somewhere to store them that's also away from their own books so the two lots don't get muddled up in the chaos their bookcases are ... looking forward to when that appears on the 52 weeks to an organised home (currently we are in the kitchen organising recipe books and binders)!

my gratitude goes to lisa from pieces of us for this great idea.  i absolutely loved reading what she had to say with regards to her home schooling schedule and the organisation of there things, it was brilliant and so inspiring :)

day 240: french toast

french toast served with maple syrup and powdered sugar :)

day 240 and we have a loaf of home made bread that needs using ... steve suggested he make french toast for breakfast for he and the peeps.  i told him i would find a recipe for it on pinterest (given we haven't made it before) and i would help and make it today's creation :)  so that is what we did.

this recipe is from southern food on about.com and is pinned to my recipe must do's board.  this recipe rates really highly on their boards so i figured we would be fine, even though i was baking in the morning ... i'm not a morning person ;)  lucky for us this is quick and simple to make and only requires a whisk and a bowl, now that's my kinda kitchen work early in the morning.   the other nice part of this recipe is it doesn't add sugar until serving up, so great for diabetics, and it is a reduced fat version using only one whole egg and two egg whites ... happy days given i have the household on a health kick currently :)

we followed the recipe according to directions and then served them with maple syrup and icing sugar for the peeps.  steve had his as they were straight out of the skillet.

the ingredients

my whisking man straight out of bed ... not even the coffee had been drunk!

it smelt really good cooking, not as good as last nights pinterest but still good!

the peeps had there's garnished with maple syrup and sugar :)

outcome:  when we asked polly what she thought of them, she asked as if we saw hearts in her eyes and ben, well, he gave us a thumbs up which was pretty much all we got out of him until he was finished eating!  steve thought they were just fine as they were out of the pan but if you liked a sweet breakfast definitely add the sugar.  all in all a very happy way to start the day for most of the family ... and what did i have for breakfast?  a very healthy version of scrambled eggs so i was happy too :)

my thanks to southern food on about.com, i am absolutely certain the peeps will be asking for french toast every weekend thankfully it is easy enough to be able to do that!

day 239: parmigiana roasted potatoes and 17 day diet update

these smelt so amazing, worth doing for the smell alone!

day 239 and i am making something for those of us NOT on the 17day diet and losing lots of weight (see the bold red weight loss at the bottom ... seriously!).  i figured the family not dieting might be getting over all the health i have put into our menu over the last couple of days, so a treat i don't mind missing out on is my creation for today.

this recipe for parmigiana roasted potatoes looks really nice and steve LOVES potatoes ... does every guy consider potatoes as the only other food group to meat?  the recipe comes from lovin' from the oven, such a sweet blog with plenty of mouth watering recipes.  it is pinned to my pinterest recipe must do's board, which i can barely look at with so many tempting treats to make and pack onto my hips :(

for this recipe you dice the potatoes, toss them in all the ingredients, and then put them in the oven ... you can see why i chose this recipe can't you!  yes, it's fair to say limited time in the kitchen when dieting is a VERY good idea :)  the only changes i made to the original recipe were to substitute the italian herbs with tuscan and i used grated parmigiana instead of the powdered stuff.  i also used 3 cloves of garlic instead of 2 and garlic powder.

the ingredients, plus the parmigiana cheese which is in the fridge :)

ben declared these should be eaten every night ... dream on my boy, the smell would  drive me insane not being able to eat them, so much for a tasty treat i didn't mind missing out on ... i stayed strong this time, but next time, i'm not so sure ;)

outcome: steve and the peeps loved them .... that's an understatement, they REALLY appreciated them and me for making them ... check ... brownie points earnt for today ;)

my thanks to kim from lovin' from the oven for this delicious recipe my family loved ... i will definitely be back to visit the sweet treats when i am slim and healthy :)

weight tracker: after three days on the 17 day diet 3.2kgs lost ... i kid you not!

still going strong, surprisingly full, but still would love something sweet :- / ... ah well at least it's working!

day 238: valentines subway art

i love subway art :)

day 238 and i have just realised valentines day is right around the corner ... it's not a massive holiday in new zealand but it is growing every year.  i decided i would add some valentines décor to our home this year to get us all in the mood of love whether it be as friends, family, or one true loves ;)

i am starting with subway art ... always a good way to start!  this free printable comes from the girls at eighteen25 and you get two colour choices :)  i went with the pinks and reds, if you are going to decorate for valentines, you may as well go all the way.  i pinned the idea to my holiday goodness board on pinterest and liked the white frame it was it so much, i decided to copy that as well ... why mess with perfection!~

step one: print free subway art

step two: buy a cheap but nice frame

step three: put in the frame and display :)

outcome:  COOL, love how simple and quick subway art is to make!  one for every holiday coming up ;)

my thanks to the the sisters from eighteen25, they always have such great ideas, not to mention the best, freshest looking subway art that's always free to download ... love that :)

day 237: multiplication ice block sticks

multiplication ice block sticks ready for learning

day 237 and i am back to reality and out of holiday mode and once again preparing for the new home school year, which is now less than a week away ... yikes!  today i am in maths mode for pollyanna in the form of multiplication tools.  there are HEAPS of ideas on pinterest, and i have chosen one to make today ... ice block stick multiplication.

i got this idea from the first grade parade and it is pinned to my home school projects board.  mrs carroll uses the ice block sticks for teaching addition and subtraction and i thought the idea seemed so good it could easily translate to multiplication and eventually division.

i used a sharpie to write the problem on one side and the answers on the other.  i also used both ends of the ice block to demostrate that, like addition, it doesn't matter which number comes first in the equation.

what you need

the stick, this photo shows what the front side and the back side look like

2 x family ... i am going to give this group to pollyanna first and work our way up from there :)

outcome: i am hoping that this will make learning her times tables more fun for pollyanna and less about just reading and remembering her times tables from a chart.  the great thing with these sticks is i can mix them up or keep them as families.  the answers are readily assessable to her but not immediately so shw will be able to give it a go and then check whether she is right :)

my gratitude goes to mrs carroll at the first grade parade for uses such a simple everyday item to make maths more exciting for littlies :)

day 236: 17 day diet

the 17 day diet began today :)

day 236 and the good food of christmas and summer has caught up with me :(  we have had a great summer eating, swimming, relaxing, holidaying, and eating, and now we are bursting out of our clothes!  i make light but it's something i feel horrible.  it's time to lose some weight and try something new doing it.  my whimsy board is where i pin all the things i am not sure how to categorise and the 17 day diet is one of those :)

i was given a book to read by a dear friend and also went to the website to investigate the 17 day diet.  coming home from our camping holiday and starting fresh for the year seemed like a good idea.  the diet has been put together by dr. mike moreno and features a lot of protein, probiotics, and plenty of vegetables.  it doesn't include weighing things (except for me!), counting anything, or making lots of soups ... all things i am not good at.  in 17 days you are supposed to lose between 10-15 lbs (4-5 kgs) so we shall see.

the book with all you need to know

today i stepped on the scales, keeled over with fright, got angry at myself, and then started the diet with gusto. so today's creation is all about making something, it just happens that i am planning on making myself a lot small ;)

you drink a LOT of green tea on this diet

tonights dinner, it was really filling

outcome: we will know in 17 days but day 1 has been a triumph.  i think with all the water i have drunk it has kept me full all day.  the food was surprisingly satisfying and i figured for 17 days this diet is definitely worth trying.  for my own personal motivation i am going to put a little weight tracker down the bottom of each post daily for the 17 days and after 17 days we will see whether this diet has worked ... this was a hard post to write because it's something very personal to me and more than a little embarrassing, but i figured if i have success with it, it might be worth sharing with those who would like to lose weight ... and if it doesn't work, we can at least scratch this one off the list of diets to try :)

HOME :)

the lazy hazy days of summer

days 233, 234, 235 were all spent on the road camping in the most beautiful place, it was hard to come home ... which is probably why we didn't get home until fairly late last night :)  so we need a quick recap of the three days creations and then there will be another post later today for today's creation, well more of an experiment i think!

day 233 had me making this jello salad.  we went camping with friends and one of them and been looking at the camping pins i had pinned to my summer loving board and sent a request through for jello salad.  to be honest when she emailed this request all i could think of was lettuce and lime jello ... yuck!  as it turns out this recipe from camping cafe is all about fruit, vanilla pudding, cream, and marshmallows, much better and the recipe looked ideal for campers.  it was really easy to make, you simply tip all the ingredients into a bowl combine and then put in the chilly bin to cool for 3 hours ... and it was delicious.  if you don't like pineapple, you won't like this recipe as their is a really strong pineapple flavour so maybe substitute with two cans of fruit salad instead.  it was really good, nice and refreshing, and it does something funny to the marshmallows which is cool :)

A LOT of cool whip goes into this pudding, just as well it was fat free!

cut in some marshmallows

this little girl LOVED the salad!

day 234 and i made a present in the form of a trivet for the sweet family we went camping with.  we collected pebbles and sand glass from the beach that were nice and flat.  then during the evening i sat down with craft glue and glued them to the felt i had brought along with me.  the idea is pinned to my  summer loving board and comes from martha stewart weddings! no kidding, its amazing where inspiration will lead you :)  it turned out really well and is perfect for camping given the amount of hot food you cook and the more than likely plastic tables you eat on!  if you don't live near a beach, i am sure you can purchase bags of pebbles from your local handy man store and still make one. i am going to try and make a table runner for our dinning room using the same method.

what is needed for the trivet

the finished pebble trivet

day 235 and we got home late in the evening.  my very sweet, thoughtful mum had sussed out a pinterest recipe for me to make, got all the ingredients sorted, and helped me create some very yummy chocolate chip cookies.  the recipe comes from apple a day and states they are the best chewy, soft chocolate chip cookie ever.  and actually they are pretty darn hard to beat.  the mystery ingredient is cornstarch and you do need to whip out the heavy machinery for these, but let me tell you it is totally worth it.  they are so good, it was hard to stop, just as well the recipe makes plenty of them :)

the mix

the chewy cookies :)

my thanks goes to camping cafe for their awesome jello salad (and the hot chocolate mix, it was outstanding ... not too sweet, or chocolately, just perfect),  apple a day  for the BEST chewy chocolate cookies i have ever tasted AND as a bonus they were easy to make, and also to  martha stewart weddings  for the trivet idea :)  and FINALLY, thank you so much to my family and the ross-smiths for an amazing camping trip and helping me carry on my pinterest creation, and also my sweet, sweet, mum who took care of our open home AND had all creating ready for me to do when i got home so i wouldn't stress about ... love you guys :)

the view from our tent ... not too shabby ;)

these three peeps had a ball

the hot chocolate mix was a hit with my peeps :)

tracy's apple pie, fresh from the dutch oven

tracy's apple pie was absolutely delicious

one of the catch, freshly smoked ... it was delicious :)

the trivet came in very handy the following day for alan's freshly smoked fish!