Irish Brigid

Regarding Pinterest

2012-03-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

Just an FYI. Anything I post on this blog, you may post on Pinterest if you'd like. Actually, I'd love that!

Homemade Cleaner

2012-03-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

I've really been on a homemade cleaner kick. Saves money, saves plastic and is overall better than using all those chemicals in the house. My first cleaner I tried was my own fabric freshener (similar to Febreeze). So far that has worked great. I think it really works better than store bought.

Next I've been trying the no shampoo deal. I haven't quite figured out the combination for my hair. It'll get real oily, then real dry. I'm going to keep on trying though. I'd love to have healthy hair.

Two days ago I tried the homemade soap scum cleaner in my bathtub. All I can say is amazing! Everything is so shiny. For some reason there are two areas on my tub that didn't get clean. It's almost like something permanent is stuck on it. I used it all on my shower, but next I want to tackle the kitchen faucet. It's a cheap apartment faucet, but I'd like it to shine.

Recipes:
Homemade Fabric Freshener
1/8 cup your favorite fabric softener
8 Tbs baking soda
Hot tap water
I reused my old Febreeze bottle. Be careful when adding the baking soda to the mix. After all 3 ingredients are added, mix well.

Soap Scum Cleaner
1 part white vinegar
1 part blue Dawn dish detergent
Heat the vinegar for about 2 minutes, mix with Dawn and shake well. Use after mixing, don't store it. Spray all over the shower, leave for 30 minutes - 2 hours depending on how scummy. Wipe down with clean sponge and warm water.

I'd recommend searching blogs, websites for your own mixture of DIY hair care. I use 1Tbs baking soda per cup of water. I boil the water first since it appears I have hard water. But it's not working like I'd hoped so I'm in search of other remedies.

I'm off today to make some more goodies for my Etsy page. Until next time.

Foodie night

2012-02-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

Apologies for slacking. Tonight's post should be good. It's filled with yumminess. I've been really trying to find good and easy recipes to try. I got into a rut where I seemed to be making the same things each week. Rotisserie chicken, stir fry, pasta, etc. Not that those are bad things but I wanted a change.

So tonight I bring you:
Honey garlic pork chops for dinner and Nutella cookies for dessert :)

I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I'd try. I tweaked it a bit. The recipe calls for grilling, and living in an apartment, there's no grilling.

Here's my version
4 pork chops
1/4 cup honey
3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp minced garlic

Wisk the honey, garlic and soy sauce in a shallow dish, pre-heat over to 350:

Coat each chop on both sides and put in glass baking pan (use the pan of your choice). On a side note, I have recently discovered the Reynolds pan liner, which is aluminum foil on one side and parchment paper on the other. THE BEST EVER. Can use it to cook and bake.

Drizzle the honey garlic sauce over the chops and cook for 20-25 minutes in the oven, flipping half way through.

Serve with sides of your choice. Mine are broccoli and cheese, cinnamon applesauce and a baked potato. This was so good. Wasn't too garlic-y, so you can tweak the recipe to your liking.

Ok now onto dessert. This is another recipe found on Pinterest. I recently discovered the amazingness of Nutella. Why I thought it would be gross, I have no idea. Aside from graham crackers, I couldn't really think of a way to use it in food. I followed this recipe. It's 4 ingredients, which I thought was a piece of cake.

So I blended all the ingredients, which wasn't easy measuring a cup of Nutella. The mixture never got a smooth consistency. It was very powdery and crumbled easy. I pushed on anyway. Thankfully the mixture formed into little balls. The recipe called to press them down, which mine couldn't do. They'd crumble. So I left them in little balls. Baked for 8 minutes and let cool.

Once cooled, they are soft inside, hard on the outside. But they were really yummy :)

I can't wait to next try the new Duncan Hines frosting mixes!

New creation!

2012-02-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts. I've been dog sitting for 3 weeks and haven't really been able to post. However, I did create a new scarf!

Started off wandering through JoAnns for something different, and boy did I find it. Deborah Norvilles Everyday yarn in Parrot. Made from 100% acrylic.

I'm not much of a knitter yet. Only simple things. But I found this pattern and had to try it. Cast on an odd amount of stitches, a multiple of 3 (ie. 21, 27, 33). k2p1 and you wind up with one knit, one purl and one moss stitch. It's very flexible and stretchy.

I've found her yarn to be great and easy to knit with. Just wait until you see what I do next! By the by, this one is for sale on my Etsy page.

Clean up is a snap!

2012-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

In 2007 I purchased a new living room set from Rooms To Go. Bought into that whole microfiber suede craze. The sales man convinced me that it couldn't be punctured or stained. I figured this fabric was from the future, so I bought it. It was gorgeous. I still wonder why I chose a red love seat and cream sofa. Within a month, my cat Sally had clawed her way across the front of the couch. And over the last 5 years it's been stained, and cleaned, and stained and cleaned. Now they sold me on the whole 'use this fabric cleaner and it'll be like new'. Yah right. What they don't tell you about microfiber is that if it gets wet then this nice little dark ring dries and makes a new stain. So over the years, I've been scrubbing, steaming and soaking my cushions to get them clean. Until I joined Pinterest, that is. I've been seeing DIY cleaners for this fabric, but in reading on another blog, most people just toss the cushion covers in the washer and dryer. I figured what the heck, they're 5 years old, if my red love seat turns pink, so be it.

The following 2 are before. Most the small stains are from my heard of pets.

This is my beagle Haley keeping warm on one of Florida's colder days.

And here is after washing! Tada. There are a few spots left, but it's 98% clean. Real soft too!

I forgot to take before and after pictures for the red love seat but the results were amazing! Didn't see ANY spots on the red one.

Here's what I did:

~ Removed the covers.
~Turned inside out and zipped up almost all the way.
~Washed in warm water with my regular detergent and a spot of Borax.
~Dried on the low heat setting.
~Before putting the covers back on, I sprayed the cushions with my DIY fabric freshener.

So far so good. Now I know if something spills, they're easier to clean!

Just have to share

2012-01-11T18:58:00.001-08:00

So as all (3) of my followers know, I am unemployed. I'm always looking for ways to save some money. I love shiny, sparkly eye shadow but all the cool ones seem to be expensive. The other day, I was browsing the mall with my mom and cousin for good deals. In Forever 21 by the registers, they have all these cute little products, mostly under $5. So I found this cute set of 16 colored glitter eye shadow and decided to try it. Lo and behold, it's awesome. Intense pigment and stays on! No need for primer.

Next time you're in there, check it out! I'll post more deals when I find them.

Crafting time

2012-01-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

So the last few days I've been making some stuff. Knitting, card making and treat bags. The cards are for Valentine's Day. Here's what I've been doing,

Started off with my supplies. I find great deals at Michaels, Jo-Ann and Wal-Mart with the Studio G $1 items. The cards, wooden stamps, glitter and ink pads were all $1 items. Of course, my Cricut is very useful.

My Cricut personal and amazing Ott Light

Ta-Da! XOXO cards, for sale on Etsy here.

Hot pink Smitten cards for sale here.

Cute little simple blank Valentines cards.

Haven't finished all the treat bags, but I've also been utilizing my new Cricut cartridge that makes treat boxes! More pictures when I'm done with those later.

I cooked! Well sort of.

2012-01-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

So I've really been into trying to cook. I don't do it much because frankly, I don't like it. But thanks to Pillsbury.com I've gotten some awesome, super easy recipes to try. And I'm even adding my own twist to them.

So yesterday, I found this recipe. Good and simple. So I tweaked it a bit.

Rather than using Progresso soup, I used my favorite; Dinty Moore Beef Stew.

And instead of making a bread bowl, I made a sort of pot pie. Added 1 1/2 biscuits to the bottom of the bowl, then ladled the stew in. Added a biscuit on top.

Baked first for 14 minutes, and realized the biscuits weren't done. Added another 7 minutes to the timer and...

Mmmmm. It was so good and steamy. Great for a cold night. I had to dog sit for a great dane last night. So, I brought it with me and it was still hot and warm. The underside of the biscuit on top was a bit gooey, so I'd recommend a few minutes more if you want it more cooked.

Hopefully, more tweaked recipes to follow. I'm kinda liking this modifying a recipe.

Decided I need to update this more. I'd like to be a blogger one day.

2011-12-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty good. Went shopping at Publix for Christmas dinner, found out my brother finally got a job and received a bunch of Christmas cards! To end the day, I burned 400 calories on the eliptical machine at the gym. Sure, I'm wobbly but hey it'll pay off in the long run.

Oh and also in the mail, were my free Etsy business cards!

Nothing fancy, just simple.

Creations

2011-08-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Some goodies I've made recently. The middle ones (with rhinestones) are on My Etsy store.

2010-08-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Bought some new scrapbook paper, knitted more. Getting crafty. Will post something when it's done.

2010-08-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

Lots of things to update about.

Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. After meeting her amazing oncologist, her surgery was scheduled for July 26th. All went well. He removed the lump and her lympnodes test was negative. She's well on her way to healing. She has a follow up appointment on the 13th to see if she's going to need any radiation.

I'm doing fairly well with my health. Migraines aren't as frequent. Had a bad one yesterday, but Maxalt knocked that out.

Brighter side, in June I went to the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universals Islands of Adventure. We waited in line 4 hours just to get inside the park, but overall was a fun day. The day before, we snuck our way into the press preview day and saw Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Tom Felton.

Haven't made anything crafty lately. Hope to soon.

More creations!

2010-05-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Slytherin locket from Harry Potter.

My Harry Potter lightning blot.

TheWizarding World of Harry Potter opens next week for us passholders. Can't wait!

Also, this picture of my Haley just makes me smile. She was stretching and rolling around on my bed in the morning and apparently wore herself out in the process.

I was crafty again

2010-05-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I made a few things. A purse for myself and 3 necklace charms. I bought more material for more stuff to make! I'm also happy cause I sold one of my Barbies! Barbie as Glinda the Good Witch fromWizard of Oz. Thanks Ebay!

Creations

2010-03-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'm getting creative. Finding cute little clip arts of random things to make shrinky dink charms out of. Going to creat an Etsy.com account and try and sell them.

Here's my latest creation:

Keep on following

2010-02-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

Gasparilla 2010 Knight Parade was a hit. My friend Melissa and I joined my moms Krewe for the parade. It was good times. Making someone smile just by putting a 3 cent piece of plastic bead around their neck was awesome. I saw two high school classmates of mine down there. Very odd, but cool.

When you're feeling empty, keep me in your memory.

2010-02-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was pretty productive. Although I spent all day in my jammies, I filed my taxes, knitted more of Michelles scarf, and sewed a shopping bag. Not too bad. I've printed out a few more patterns of things I'd like to make to get my sewing juices flowing.

What is...?

2010-01-25T18:54:00.001-08:00

Although, I have a Facebook and a Livejournal, I'm giving this a go. Technically, I still have a Myspace, but I haven't logged in since August. I was bored in the hospital, can ya blame me? That shall be deleted soon.

I've recently began to crave learning about new things. Learning new crafts, or just random facts. I can sit on my phone, searching random things in Wikipedia, Google or wherever. Thankfully, I was shown the ways of swagbucks.com. Now I can earn stuff, while I search randomly. I even enjoy watching Jeopardy and Cash Cab. You can learn such random things, it's great!

Like today, did you know it's the 50th birthday of the invention of bubble wrap?

Just a random picture for your viewing pleasure:

This was taken on January 12th. As you can see, I'm scraping ice off my windshield. Go figure, in Florida.