Vinegar is my favorite thing.

Oops!  I was so flustered last Wednesday that I forgot to tell you that I was leaving for the weekend!

Well... better late than never, right?!

We went to see my family for the weekend, and to clean the old place up.  We spent many hours making the place look amazing, and I must say I am proud :D  

I have told many people already, and I will tell you also, you could eat off of any surface in our old bathroom.  That is how clean and shiny I made it :) 

I used very few chemicals the whole time!  I would like to share :) 

Did you know that if you put an oven safe bowl full of vinegar and water into your oven, that it will clean it?!  Well it will at least help anyway :) I scoured the internet, and from a few different sources (yahoo answers, ehow, and wiki questions) I found enough to come up with this little "recipe."

What you need is:

1. An oven safe baking dish

2. Vinegar (I used regular, but I don't know why apple cider wouldn't work just as well)

3. Water

4. Sponge, cloth, or some scrubbing apparatus. 

What you do.

1. Preheat your oven to 300*

2. fill the dish with 2 parts vinegar, to 1 part water.

3. Put the baking dish in the preheated oven.

4. Cook the liquid for about 30-40 minutes.

5. Resist the urge to open the oven door.

6. Turn off the oven after 30-40 minutes, but do not open the oven door.

7.  Wait until the oven has cooled down to normal temperature (for me this was a couple hours).

8. Take out the dish and clean your oven :)

From what I understand, the trick is the fumes.  The vinegar penetrates the caked on grease and food.  This makes it so much easier to scrub off!  I dipped the sponge I was using, into the baking pan with the leftover vinegar/water mixture and scrubbed :) There were a couple spots that needed a little extra oomph, so I sprinkled a little baking soda and water on them, and let them sit.  But I must tell you, the shine that I saw from the racks (after scrubbing) was amazing.  I even had to get my guy to come in and see them, and he was very impressed :) I ran and got my landlord to show her, and she was also thrilled, especially to find out there were no chemicals used!  The best part about this, is that it is a gas powered appliance!  A lot of chemicals seem to have trouble with gas ovens and stoves, so this little trick made me feel very safe :) 

I also used a vinegar/water mixture to clean my bathroom.  It worked on everything from the toilet to the mirrors.  It was stinky at first, but when it dried, the smell just went away.  I used baking soda on a couple stained spots and poof!  gone.  

I also used the vinegar mixture to clean the interior of Joshua's car.  Seriously, vinegar, and baking soda are my two most favorite things right now :D 

I found these other amazing vinegar things on Pinterest, and you should check them out, because vinegar is really amazing!  I can't believe all these years I only used it for egg dying and cooking!  My life will never be the same :)

Vinegar foot soaks

Clean old paint brushes

As a household cleaner

A fruit and veggie wash

Apple cider vinegar uses

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this, and it helped in some way!

It is kind of late here, and I have had a very long weekend.  We are all happy to be home!  I am going to post something to my smile page and then I think I am going to go to sleep :) Sorry if any of the post is nonsense, I don't sleep well when we travel, because then Evelyn sleeps with us... and she doesn't really sleep.  So I don't really sleep.

Blog Support!

So I thought that if I made different pages, for different subjects, that I could make new posts to them.  That way my blog stayed organized.  This isn't the case I guess.  So I have been editing the pages to just add more to them, then dating the new addition so you can tell it is new.  If anyone has an idea on how to do this better, PLEASE tell me.

<3

Sweet tooth?

In the last week and a half, we have bought two fruit tarts.  Big fruit tarts.
Within 36-48 hours of buying a tart, it is gone.  I have had 2 total slices.

Where did the rest go?  Well... let us ask Joshua :)

25 Daddy-Daughter Ideas

25 Daddy-Daughter Dates <3
Inspired by my daughter Evee, and her amazing father Joshua

25.  Go to a little cafe, dressed in your best!  She will love wearing some costume jewelry and Daddy will look good in his tie!  Share a piece of dessert, and let her do the talking :) ask her many questions!

24.  Visit a local shelter, and take the dogs for a walk!  Shelters are always looking for volunteers to take the pups for a walk, and if she likes animals, she will really enjoy it!  She could also go into a cat room if they have one, and get loved on by the kitties.  Maybe you can even bring a new friend home?

23.  Silly Clothes!  Let her pick out the outfits for both of you.  Even if they do not match, or she chooses to wear your giant t-shirt.  Just tie a ribbon around her waist like a belt, and admire the new dress :) take pictures.  Who cares if it is embarrassing?  She wont be young forever, and she is having a good time.

22.  Make dinner together!  Let her do the mixing, and help with measuring (depending on age).  Make the food decorative.  You can use a lot of foods to make shapes, pictures, etc.   Let her show it off to her mom, grandparents, etc.  She will feel proud that she just made dinner!

21.  Go to the park and swing.  Push her, then make her push you.  It will be funny, and you can make playful jabs at each other :) Plus, who doesn't like swinging?

20.  Make art together!  Paint each other a picture of something special, then present it to each other.  Hang them side by side so you can remember the day.

19.  Make bird feeders and hang them from trees in the neighborhood.  Over the next couple days, look through binoculars at the birds tasting the treats.  Then try to identify them.

18.  Do a science experiment!  This site has a ton of really great ones! Cool!

17.  Build a volcano, fill it with soda, and then take a step back.  Toss mentos at it, to see who can make it errupt first (this one will be messy, so remember... step back... and be outside!)

16.  Make a drive in, in your living room.  Take a cardboard box and cut it in half.  Make each half look like the front of a car.  Put pillows or cushions on the floor and put them behind your "car."  Now you each have your own individually decorated cars, just get some popcorn, turn off the lights, and pop in a movie!  She will enjoy decorating her car, and the whole experience will be great for the imagination!

15.  Bike ride.  This one is self explanatory.  Go for a bike ride!  Get ice cream! Have a little race.  Go to the park!

14.  Put on a puppet show.  Get out some old socks and glue google eyes on them.  It is that easy.  Any dad can do that, you don't have to be crafty.  Now you have your puppets!  Get a cardboard box, open the back of it, cut out a square of the front, and there you go!  Put on shows for mom :) (I like exclamation points too much, sorry!)

13.  Laser Tag.  This is not for the teeny tiny little ones lol :)  It is a blast though.  The last time Josh and I went, our biggest competition was a squad of little ladies.  They know how to hide, and be crazy sneaky.  Be on a team or be against each other!  She will enjoy it.

12.  Do a puzzle.  Don't show the main picture, then she will be surprised when she finds out what it is!

11.  Let her take the day off from school.  Not often, school is important.  But surprise her one morning by not waking her up.  Then take her out for breakfast and let her get something at the dollar store.  Spend the evening doing the homework from the day she missed so she doesn't get behind, and you get to bond some more.

10.  Whistle.  I know this one sounds silly, but one of my fondest memories of being a child is whistle races.  The race would be to chug a can of soda, run room to room, eat a stack of crackers, and the first one to whistle won.  I am not sure I would suggest having your little one chug a can of soda, but hey, eat a couple crackers, and see who can whistle first.  I know it is just a silly competition, but you can laugh at each other as the crumbs fly out.

09.  Make an activity book.   Take some sticky notes and make tic-tac-toe boards, little word searches, etc.  Staple them together, and then do them together.

08.  Go bowling, or play putt putt golf.  Remember, if she doesn't get it at first, stay calm.   Let her take her time, and help her when you can.  Not to promote gambling haha, but maybe make her a bet on who wins the game (after she is good at it, and for bed making, or dessert or something).

07.  This one moms might not love so much... but play pranks on mom!  Put orajel in her toothpaste! Put sugar in the salt shaker.  Change all the clocks so she thinks she over slept (make sure she has nowhere to be!).  Sorry moms, but sometimes you gotta take a dive!  Plus it gives you a reason to retalliate :)

06.  Go on a scavenger hunt.  Have Mom make a list of things, and then take her out and find them!

05.  Go to a childrens museum.  There is so much to do and learn!  Make sure you read, or let her read, all the little plaques so you can learn together :)

04.  Nerf war!  Have one with your little girl :) Set up different furniture to hide behind, and make sure you both have enough little foam darts, then go nuts!

03.  Write a story together.  Let her draw the pictures, or come up with what happens next.  Put yourselves in the story.  You could do one chapter a month, and see how the story changes at the end of the year.  If she isn't old enough to write, write for her.

02.  Number 2 has 4 dates, one for each season.
Winter - build a snowman, make a fort, have a snowball fight, team up and attack other members of your family!


Spring - Pick a bouqet, dry the flowers and put them in a frame to remember the day, plant a seed together and watch it grow!


Summer - Go to the beach!  Go roller blading, build a sand castle, let her bury you in the sand, collect seashells


Fall - decorate the house, carve a pumpkin, take a stroll and collect leaves every week from the same trees.  See how they change!  

01.  My favorite daddy daughter date.  The one that always makes me smile, and feel so incredibly lucky that my baby girl has Joshua for her father.  Bedtime stories.  Read a book together :) When she is old enough, she can read to you too.  Pick books that will give her good dreams.  Always give her a kiss goodnight.

Hope you enjoyed my list!

Introducing... me! :)

So I keep attempting to start this blog, but then I forget, or I just can't figure it out!

So here is my first attempt at an introduction post :) Just to say hi, and sort of explain why I decided to start a blog in the first place!

So this is me :) hi!

 This picture is a little old, from last Christmas actually, but I do not get many pictures taken of just me these days :)

This brings me to my main point of the blog.  In 2011 I gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Evelyn Autumn Jade.  She is my world, and I love her to death.  Here's a recent picture of my sweet little 10 month old.

This was taken on the 4th of July :)

Oh right, back to my point!  Well, actually, that is my point!  For a little over a year and a half now (I am counting from the time I found out I was expecting) my body has not been my own.  My life has not been my own.  From jungle juice to apple juice, and early morning bedtimes, to early morning wake up calls.

I absolutely love being a stay at home mom.  I love cooking for my family (seriously), and even like the satisfaction I get from a house that is finally clean.   Every day though, I feel myself slipping more away from the person I used to be.  This is not all bad.  I am fine with going to bed earlier, I like eating healthier, and I am okay not feeling sick from drinking the night before.  However, there are parts of me that I miss. I miss crafting, painting, having time to make my own recipes instead of following someone else's, and being romantic with my honey <3

Here's a picture of him :)

I was about 28-30 weeks pregnant in this picture, so excuse the giant swollen everything.  

I hope that by making this blog, it will give me something weekly to do, or maybe even a couple times a week!  A hobby that will hopefully promote my rediscovery of myself.  I figure if I at least imagine that someone is reading it, I might be motivated to do things worth reading about.  

I recently got a sewing machine, and I have no idea what I am doing with it!  I also have lots of craft supplies ready to go!  So expect some new, interesting, hopefully not tear filled (from failure) posts coming from me :) 

I will give just a couple more details about me, and then I will let you be done reading.  I have a tendency to ramble sometimes, especially when I type.  

I am a 24 year old first time mom.  I stay at home with her because I am lucky enough to be able to.  Plus sitters are crazy expensive these days!  My guy and I just moved to Chicago about a week ago.  We have only ever even visited here a handful of times, and most of those were to look for an apartment or on school field trips from junior high.  I hope we like it!  We moved here because Joshua was accepted to a college here, so we packed our bags and here we are!  

I have already told you about my little girl :) But I may have left out our other little baby.

This is Rosie Cobalt :) 

Finally I will say that these are some of the things I hope to post in the future!

New things that I decorate, or create.

Recipes I come up with, or I try out and my reviews on them.

Tutorials for sewing beginners, and how they work out, or errrrr don't work out.

Things I find on pinterest, and how they worked out for me.

(follow me on pinterest! Pins!!!)

Then of course, even though I am making this blog to rediscover some of who I am, without being mommy or partner in crime hehehe.   I know I would not be me at all if I did not have my family, my world.  So there will often be a photo or short story about those crazy people.

Well thank you for reading and I hope I can give someone some entertainment somehow, and hopefully in return I get the motivation I need :) 

-Ashley