I wasn’t using this since I don’t use a camera with a tripod mount anymore. Works great as a phone and iPad stand though. Also, I see Gorillapod now has a phone tripod version.
Buy Beaver Nuggets Online.
Just tried a bag of these, they are good! And apparently good enough that displaced Texans are searching for ways to buy them online. So here you go, click here. You’re welcome internet!
Wood foam blocks dollhouse.
I should preface this by saying that I believe children should be playing with blocks and other construction toys as much as possible. I just got a little tired of these particular blocks getting dumped onto the floor and never picked up. I was about to get them out of the house one way or another when “aha!” I knew just what to do with them. My daughter helped me build the walls with Elmer’s glue then I connected them together with a hot glue gun to make this (easy to put away) dollhouse. I saw these same blocks at my local craft store so maybe other folks are picking them up as a crafting medium, any other ideas?
Pasta measurement trick, use half the box.
If you dump the pasta out of the box until it fills to the bottom of the window then in most cases you’ve used about half the box. This is generally enough for the 3 of us.
How I make my grocery lists.
I start by drawing a line down the middle of a sheet of paper. Then I crack open the cookbooks and start planning some meals for the week. As I add meals on the right I put the ingredients that I need on the list on the left. I break my list down into four categories: inside aisles, produce, outside aisles, and frozen. Then when I go to the store I skip through produce and head to the inner part of the store where the dry non-refrigerated stuff is i.e. the stuff that isn’t gonna spoil or get squished. Grocery stores put produce in the front not for convenience but because it’s “pretty” but I’m tired of squishing my tomatoes and grapes! So I hit produce second. Third, I grab the stuff that is kept around the perimeter of the store like meat and dairy, this stuff can spoil so I’m minimizing the amount of time it spends outside of the fridge. Lastly, I grab a few things from the frozen food aisle and head out. It’s nice having the list of meals with me too in case I forget just how many zucchini I was supposed to grab, etc. What do you think? How do you do it?
Soften butter in your pocket.
Soften your butter quicker by putting it in your pocket. My butter was ready for my cookies by the time I had mixed the other ingredients.
Use command strips to create a convenient charging station.
Attach command strips to the back of a multi-outlet extension cord then stick it to the side of your night stand. Most convenient charging station ever!
Spray-painted frame collection
Take all your old frames and paint them the same color for a cohesive collection. We filled these with scrap booking paper. I got this idea from Nate Berkus.
Jewelry organizer from recycled frame and twigs.
Here is where I got the idea from. I used some old spray paint and paint samples to paint the frame and twigs which I screwed the smallest cup hooks I could find in to. If you find an old frame at a thrift store you could have a 100% recycled project.
Thaw frozen ground beef and turkey quickly.
Before freezing ground meat squish it flat. You can then thaw it in a bowl of hot water in minutes.
Derek Follett 