Pin 44- oatmeal #fail

Friends, I love oatmeal! After multiple attempts of trying different kinds... I'm on board!
I've also been very into my crock-pot lately.. things have gotten busy. This leads me to--

Pin 44-
Kelly & I eat breakfast at different times, and we both like a hot breakfast on a cold day. I found this pin; of apple dump oatmeal and thought it would be perfect. I went and bought apples, and prepped everything. It was easy to follow with minimal ingredients. I opened the pin completely, and there were no additional instructions. I was worried about using 4 cups of water, but on first time recipes I always follow instructions exactly. With some hesitation, I went to bed to let this cook overnight.

Excited to try the oatmeal the next morning, I woke up and was surprised that the kitchen didn't smell like cinnamon and apples. I opened the lid and the oatmeal looked watery and the sides of the crock-pot were burnt. I scooped it in a bowl took a bite and really disliked it. It was bland, watery, mushy and even with stirring and re-cooking for awhile there was no saving the oatmeal. The photo below is what I made and looks identical to the pin photo.. but wasn't tasty at all.

Keep your fingers crossed for a successful pin next week!

Day 43- greeting card organization

First up-- I'm going to switch to Pin Numbers instead of "Day 43." We'll be doing a pin-a-week starting today! The next entry will be Pin 44.

Next-- Here's how the shirt from Day 40 came out:

The spot is still on the bottom right and noticable. I'm going to try my regular stain remover next and see what happens.


And now.. Day 41.

Friends, I couldn't bring myself to complete today's project! I set all my items up and with the demonstration pin. Here's the pin and the directions ( that bind cards together with a binder ring), but I was using cards I've had even from my 15th birthday. I began to read the cards and realized that some of the hand written notes inside would get a hole through the writing. Some of these were from my grandma who's passed away and I just couldn't hole punch threw her words! I have the cards organized in a bag by event and then in chronological order and decided to keep them this way. They are still organized and I can read every word. Here they are all nice and sealed in a a Ziploc :)

Days 41 & 42- cleaning paint brushes & cooking stain

Day 41-
On a spring cleaning binge I found paint brushes that hadn't been cleaned properly. There were two brushes- one that was a mess and another that wasn't too terrible. I took a BEFORE photo here:

I have this pin that says to soak the brushes in vinegar for 30 minutes and they will come out like new. Here's the AFTER photo my friends. How do you think these look?

Day 41, fail. I wound up tossing the yellow paint brush but salvaged the other.



Day 42-
I loved the grilled cheese pin for day 40 so much I made it today for Kelly. While I was doing this I somehow got a giant grease stain on my new shirt! NEW! I saw this pin that says to apply chalk directly to the stain. I did just that and the shirt is currently in the wash. I'll post a photo tomorrow of the end result.. but here's out the stain looked before the wash:

Alright my loyal readers, we're switching to a pin a week. My schedule is going to pick up and I'm likely going to be posting one accomplished pin on Monday's.

Happy pinning :)

Days 39 & 40- confetti and grilled cheese

Day 38 stretches helped! They aren't magical stretches, but they did relieve some of the pain. I did more of them today and my shoulders feel more relaxed.

Onto day 39! I've seen quite a few pins on how to reuse paint chips to make confetti. There's an example here.  I'm trying out different wedding colors ( leaning toward yellow and green) and bought a Martha Stewart heart hole punch at Michaels and made these in about 20 minutes. Since paint chips have a variety of shades, it gives it a full effect. Festive and cute :)

Day 40-
With the chilly weather everyone wants comfort food. I pinned this awhile back that makes an adult grilled cheese. It's a grilled cheese made with mozzarella and a side of marinara. I prefer provolone and made this super simple recipe. It was amazing! I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it but it's reminiscent of grilled cheese and tomato soup, a favorite. Here's how it came out (I promise, the photo doesn't do it justice!):

Day 38- yoga stretches for sore neck and shoulders

After holding stress in my shoulders, I've gotten quite a few knots. I decided to try a message yesterday, and I asked the therapist to work on my shoulders to really get the knots out. I'm very sore today and remembered I had a pin that would help with this.

Day 38-
I used this pin that uses stretches to relieve soreness. The first position "Shoulder and Neck Stretch Against the Wall" didn't work for me. I couldn't get myself situated correctly, and felt very uncomfortable. Seated Clasping Neck Stretch gave me some relief as did Behind the Back Neck Stretch. Overall, a good find. My only problem with this pin.. lots of pop ups in the website after you click through.

I'll let you know if these truly helped tomorrow! 

Day 37- a simple note

Wanted to do a very simple craft today and combed through the best of my pins. I reviewed about half of them here, at my main board. I came across a handwritten word (LOVE) pin that teaches you to write it without picking up a pen. It's very simple, and I left the small token for Kelly. My only suggestion is to practice a couple of times, it will cause less splotching in the final product.

Days 35 & 36- registry and contest

I've been on a break from work and have a had time to work on wedding planning. Yesterday was a big day, and I worked on the registry.

Day 35- registry tips
I'm not sure what brides did before Pinterest.. so many great ideas and helpful tips. I've organized my wedding pins into one board here. I used a helpful pin to work on the registry. It gives 7 tips; a few for in the store and a couple more for after you've finished. The most useful to me was #2: Do give yourself plenty of time to walk around. We did take time to really take things in and decide what would work best in our new home! I am happy that we've settled into the new place quickly and really made it our. It made it much easier to decide on items we really needed. Day 35--a very helpful pin!


Day 36- wedding contest
Pinterest has plenty of contests for you to enter. If you're trying to win paper products, wedding items, new jewelry, etc. Quite a few pop up on my feed every week and I found this pin of winning a photography package and couldn't wait to enter. The contest host puts instructions into a pin and very often you are to make a board using their pins to create inspirtaion. This promotes their company and gives an opportunity for their pins to hit different audiences. It often has very creative pins that would would use anyway, so it's a win win situation!

Hope you've had a successful weekend, readers!

Day 34- mashed cauliflower

Looking into healthier recipes I've wanted a substitute for mashed potatoes. They usually have a lot of butter, milk or heavy cream, and I wanted something better for me. I found a few pins of mashed cauliflower (like this one)  that did included butter and even cream cheese but I steered away from those!

I finally found this whole  foods recipe for plain mashed cauliflower, and it's so easy. It's literally just the cauliflower, olive oil and salt and pepper. I followed the instructions but did do garlic salt instead of plain salt to add a bit more flavor. And a serving is only 110 calories! Yum!

Day 33- quinoa pizza bites

I mentioned in Day 28 that we're trying to use ingredients that we already have in our house to make new recipes. We have an abundance of quinoa and Kelly just loves pizza. A friend pinned this recipe and it was fairly easy. Basically, it's supposed to feel like dough you dip in marinara. You do cook the quinoa first, which can be scary if you've never made it before. Don't worry! It's just like cooking rice.
I followed the directions exactly and they are a very good substitute for pizza. I would let them cool for at least 7-10 minutes. This allows them to fully set and it makes them easier for dipping. Below is a photo that I took about 5 minutes into cooling and they came apart a bit when I removed them from the pan!

Happy pizza Friday everyone!

Day 32- A valentine's day gift

In a pact I made with partner we had to make our gifts by hand for Valentine's day.
She's not much for the holiday but I LOVE it. Growing up we made it a day about loving everyone; especially friends and family. I wanted to do something special for Kelly, and I know she likes to hear compliments (since I'm sure I don't give them enough!), so I chose this pin .
It really wasn't that difficult to come up with 52 things I love about her! My one problem was trying to make sure that two hole punches would be even each time.. which is why I chose one punch. I took the top of the card to the three hole punch and kept on. But.. here's the reaction I got when she opened it (with just a couple of tears)--

Day 31- delicious smoothie

Trying to keep in a Valentine mood this week I decided to try a raspberry/chocolate smoothie from a pin I found here. The picture of what I made below does not do this justice. This is a delicious find! The recipe calls for 1 cup of frozen raspberries but I had about 3/4 of a cup and it came out just fine. It also suggests using a spoon instead of a straw.. and do it! You'll get all of your chocolate chips that way!

Mmmmm.....

Day 30- One month of pins

We've made it to Day 30, friends!
Just over 30 completed pins and I think we'll keep going for a bit longer. Just a heads up: I'm thinking of switching to a pin a week soon.

But for now--
Day 30- paper flower
Still working on projects for the wedding, and I've even created a wedding craft Pin board. I also wanted to try something small and an add on for Valentine's day. I went with this small red paper flower just using construction paper, pencil and scissors. I followed the photograph with the pin, and this is how the flower came out:

The flower didn't lay flat as it did in the pin demonstration, and it also doesn't have a way to hold the flower together. I adjusted the bottom to be less of a cone shape by hand and then glued the edge to the side. I also poked a hole threw the bottom and added a lollipop stick. I was determined not to let this pin go to waste!

Day 29-ticket memory box

We go to a lot of events-- theatre, hockey games, baseball games, concerts and we collect a lot of theoe tickets. I don't want to get rid of them as some of them have sentimental value! Instead of keeping them in a pile hidden in a drawer, I saw this pin that put tickets in a shadow box to display. Although I didn't use a box that has a slat at the top to drop the tickets in, the back of the box is easily removed to add tickets later. I printed the label that reads, "admit one" and the project was complete.
Here's what I came up with:

Day 28- oatmeal chocolate chip muffins

I loved today's pin! It was delicious!

We're trying something new at our house.. making a list of ingredients of what we have and then making a meal list. For breakfast we have these choices, lunch has these choices and dinner we can try this. It's going well, and since I don't eat oatmeal often enough we have quite a bit of it. I found this easy recipie for oatmeal chocolate chip muffins and they are delicious. The recipe is easy to follow (but don't put the chocolate chips in too early) and is a great "to go" option. My one worry about making these: her baking time is 20-30 minutes which is a big difference. I checked on the muffins at 20 minutes and they were ready. The pin has a photo of what the muffins should look like completed, but here's what they look like before they go in the oven:

Happy baking :)

Day 27- copycat McDonalds oatmeal

There's only been one oatmeal that I really enjoyed.. and it was at McDonald's. We had a coupon for a free sample and decided to go for it.

In still trying to become and oatmeal fan, I wanted to try a copycat recipie. Fairly easy and we already had the ingredients. The pin suggest using a mason jar, but I used a big bowl instead and doubled the recipe since it was for two people (one serving would have been plenty). It's a pretty straight forward recipe, and came out just like the photo. Kelly said that it's a sweeter oatmeal; she eats oatmeal almost every day.

I do like my oatmeal a bit more thick so I microwaved it for 30 seconds longer. She also has a "to go" demo that could be useful. Here's how it came out:

Day 26- crystal light storage

Today's pin is an easy one!
We drink a couple of crystal light quarts a year and I always thought it would be nice to save the containers. I couldn't come up with anything clever, so they always wind up in the recycling bin.. until THIS!

This pin has 25 ways to reuse the containers, my favorite being a cheese holder and sunglasses case. Of course I washed the container out first, and we'll see how long the cheese stays fresh but...here's what it looks like!

Day 25- banana bread oatmeal

I'm trying to get on the oatmeal train. I don't really like oatmeal, but I know it's good for you. Kelly really likes oatmeal, and I wanted to try a new recipe in hopes I'd like it. I found this pin to make banana bread oatmeal. It was a fairly simple recipe, and Kelly loved it. It made 3-4 servings, and I think I would also add cinnamon to the top. I'm still a little skeptical about oatmeal, but this was a good start. 

Day 24- hanging shoes

After living in a studio apartment I still worry that I will feel cluttered!
We have a lot of shoes between the two of us and saw a pin that suggested hanging shoes. Although the pin suggests using ballet shoes, we have a lot of converse gym shoes. Since they match and are easy  to tie to curtain rod they are what I chose to display in the bedroom. We had an extra towel rod in the bathroom and moved it into the bedroom. I then untied all the gym shoes and tied them to hang together on the rod. A fairly easy pin that's helping me stay organized (and I was able to donate two pairs that were well loved):

Day 23: bedroom headboard

Since we have a box spring and mattress with no headboard I wanted to make sure that we had something to fill the space. I've seen variations of this pin ; pieces of wood painted in some way and chose to stick with what I found orginially. We had some scrap pieces (after a failed attempt to make shelves) and I laid the 3 pieces out on the floor. I penciled "love" onto the three and painted over it. The pin suggests that you can use 3M strips to fix the headboard to the wall, but I was paranoid about it falling on my head while I slept! We secured it with something more heavy duty, but leave that up to you!

Day 21 & 22- tension rod space saver & bobby pins

Even though I have a lot of space in the new apartment, I don't think that it will always be like this. So, even though we don't NEED space savers just yet, I started anyway.

Tension rod space saver:
I had an extra curtain tension rod and saw this pin, of placing it under the sink to hang cleaning bottles.
It definitely saves space and makes it much easier to find things instead of reaching all the way to the back of the cabinet. Here's a photo (but is is dark under the sink!):












Bobby pins:

I guess I've been using bobby pins incorrectly! I usually separate the two sides and criss cross two pins if I want a tight hold. In this video pin she demonstrates that you are supposed to weave the pin through your hair. You are also supposed to be able to put up your full hair in one pin. With thick hair, I wasn't sure I believed her. I followed the instructions, and here is my updo using one bobby pin!

Day 20- a cleaner shower

Today was cleaning day in the apartment and I I've been wanting to try this pin. It's a shortcut to cleaning the shower. I took a dishwand and filled it with the half dawn/half vinegar mixture (we always have blue dawn in the house; it has so many uses!). I shook up the mixture a bit and jumped in the shower after cleaning the apartment. Super easy and saved me lots of time. 

Day 19- shower caddy

The shower in the new apartment is a tub with a shower head that is not permanently attached to the wall. There is a small piece that holds it there, so we have no where to put our caddy. I pinned this awhile back to my For the Home board and wanted to try hanging the caddy on the opposite side of the shower. I LOVE it! We have more room, the caddy isn't always falling off and since we have a lot of products in our shower the extra space is useful. Here's my accomplishment for today:

Day 18- chalkboard paint experiment

I've been seeing a lot of handwritten signs in Pinterest photos lately. When we took our engagement photos a couple of months ago I decided to try my own sign, inspired by this pin. I purchased a wooden plaque at Michaels and sanded it down a bit. I painted the entire front of it with one coat of chalkboard paint and was sure to let it dry overnight before writing on it.

I wanted to blog about it today because I use this piece so frequently! I've used it in the engagement & some holiday photos, thank you cards and a birthday sign. It's a great personal add to any photo, and here's the example!

Day 17- canvas wall decor

I debated putting this pin up, everyone says that this decor in my house looks so much more expensive than it really is!

I saw this pin that suggests using fabric over shoe box tops as decor. I'd been searching for fabric that matched our wall or pieces that matched each other and had no luck. I recently read a different pin that said to try scrapbook paper. I went to Michaels and found pieces I liked and used adhesive spray and double sided tape to fix them to each top. I basically wrapped them like a gift and everyone thinks they are canvas pieces! Here's the finished product:

Also, if you're reading my blog and you want to see the original pin, I always post it in the description of the project. It's underlined and if you click the link it will take you to the original pin. It's usually labeled "this pin" or "title of project."

Day 16- wedding centerpiece idea

I wanted to accomplish something quick and easy for the wedding today and I'd seen a pin about submerging silk flowers in distilled water for center pieces. My tall, thin vase is currently occupied with flowers; I tried a larger jar. I arranged the flowers in a circle since I knew I didn't have enough to stand them up as the pin demonstrated. I also wanted to let the flowers sit in the water and make sure that the flowers weren't changed in any way while they sat overnight (we may be able to set up at the wedding venue the day before the wedding). I think that this is a good possibility for center pieces.. thoughts anyone?

Days 14 & 15- Wedding dresses & frame

The wedding planning is in full swing in our house.
I decided that I should take a step and try on dresses. Since I wasn't sure if I wanted Kelly (my fiance) to see me in the dress before the day I'd been dragging my feet. I know that all bridal rules say she shouldn't see me in the dress before the wedding, but we talked it over and decided that Kelly would be there when I tried on dresses. Not only do I want her to love the gown I pick, she knows me best. She knows what makes me feel comfortable and is always honest about what I'm wearing.

Day 14:
I was armed with this pin and my very useful knowledge from Say Yes to the Dress and made my way to the bridal store. They suggest wearing a gorgeous bra which is a GREAT tip. I knew I didn't want a bridal bra.. I know they aren't made to be comfortable and great to job everyone who does wear one, but I don't think it's for me! I also had a few inspiration dresses on my wedding pin board, but went in with an open mind, only 2 friends and a camera. I did schedule an appointment late in the day but my consultant was fantastic. Friendly, listened to me, didn't rush me, and gave me lots of options. If you're on your way to try on wedding gowns, this pin has fantastic advice. My personal advice: rest up. I wasn't expecting to get so emotional while trying on gowns, but once I found the dress I did get weepy!

(There won't be a photo for Day 14, no spoilers here :) )

Day 15:
We're still adding small things to the new place, and I loved the idea of framing the key to your first home together (Found here). I did print a map of the area where we used to live, and here's the photo of the finished product:

Happy pinning, friends!

Days 12 & 13- a thank you and valentine's decor

Day 12 was my favorite pin this far!
I love to send thank you cards for gifts. It's polite and I know people appreciate it. I'm always looking for new ways to say thank you and I found this pin on the "Red Stamp" app. I downloaded the app to my iPhone and it's very simple to use. You can make any kind of card and either e-mail/text/or save it to your camera roll. You can add your own photos or it can be a blank canvas. Below is a photo of a thank you note I've written:

Day 13- I love to decorate for holidays and have a blank space where we hung the Christmas garland. I saw these Valentine's day hearts strung together and thought it would fit perfectly. Very easy and thrifty holiday decor.

Day 11- crock pot mac and cheese

In the 20 degree heat wave we've had today I decided to try some comfort food!
Crock pot mac and cheese  sounded very easy and delicious. With less than ten ingredients (all of which we already had in the house) it was very simple and cooked quickly. I tried cavatappi noodles and was instructed to cook them first.  I should have really undercooked them, since they sit in the crock pot for 2.5 hours and they fell apart easily (see the photo below).

The recipe itself is very easy to follow and easily served 8. Now back to the couch under a warm blanket for an episode of Downton Abbey :)

Day 10- up do #fail2

I went to the opening of a show and I wanted to try a "fancy" hairstyle. I also had about 30 minutes to get ready and didn't have much time to invest. I previously found this twisty bun hairstyle and it seemed easy enough. Two ponytails, twist and a few pins? I can do that in 5 minutes!
I did it in about 10 minutes and it didn't come out like the photo at all--it looked a mess! More like a floppy bun...the photo is below:

I ditched that hair-do in a hurry and in 5 minutes wound up with this simple braid on the side with a flower:

Can't have all wins! 2 fails out of 10, not too bad!

Days 8 & 9- earring display & guest book

I've got WAY to many earrings... and I love them all. I had a small display in our old apartment that was lace on the wall with the earrings hooked in. I wanted a more sophisticated look than just tacked up and I followed this general pin. It displays the earrings on lace in a frame, but I knew I had more to display than they demonstrated. I took the lace I already had and secured it to the back a new frame and completely removed the glass. (Warning: the back of the frame will be hard to position back in since the lace does add bulk) I fit 4 long strips of the lace and about 40 pairs of earrings in a 10x14 frame. Here's the photo of what I made:

We also had a few friends over to warm our home last night and wanted to do a unique guest book. I found this pin and thought it was perfect since we were having a wine/dessert party. Our friends helped by spacing out their signatures and think we will need to seal it at some point (so the sharpie doesn't rub off). But I think it came out quite well!


















Happy pinning :)

Day 7- baking day

We're hosting a small get together tomorrow for a few friends and baked for about 5 hours today! I wanted to try a few recipes (it's a dessert party). One was peanut butter graham cracker balls and the other was cake batter cookies. The peanut butter balls were very easy to make. I haven't melted chocolate on the stove before, and it worked very well. It's a quick, easy, delicious recipe. The cake batter cookies were more time consuming. They were a lot of steps to combine everything but they were good. The recipe says to bake for 8 minutes but I baked them for 12. I know that pudding cookies should be softer, but I didn't want them to be undercooked. I'll let you know how everyone likes these recipes tomorrow, there will be more than one person as a critic :)

Below are the batter photos that I took while making the recipes, they aren't provided in the pins:

Cake Batter Cookie batter

Peanut Butter Graham Cracker balls batter

Day 6- Cleaning the hardwood trim (while watching the HAWKS!)

First, hockey is back!

Today I wanted to multi-task while watching the Blackhawks game. We painted our second bedroom a couple of weeks ago, and had a spill on the trim. I read this pin, that said it would make your hardwood floors shine. I decided to try this on the trim where we had a small paint spill. The pin didn't specify what kind of tea to use, so I went with black. Basically, I let the black tea steep and placed it on the trim. I know it's not perfect, but here's a photo of a section of where I did the tea and another where I didn't. Let me know what you think!

NO TEA

TEA TREATMENT

Now back to the game; GO HAWKS!

Day 5- fried rice & $

We had some left over rice from last nights dinner and I've had a taste for Chinese food for awhile. I also wanted to try more crockpot recipes for the busy times in my life!

I followed this recipe (http://pinterest.com/pin/221802350369722769/) and it was fairly easy. My rice came out to the photo below and was fairly tasty. A bit too much pepper for me and I added pork pieces instead of burger (because that sounds just gross to me..).

I was feeling ambitious, and decided to try a 52 week saving plan today. I came across this (http://pinterest.com/pin/83175924339966642/) , and recruited Kelly into helping! We gathered the money for the first weeks and put in for this week. In theory we'll have saved a good amount of money at the end of the year!

AND... My fiancé's verdict on the creamer made Day 3.. Excellent ! She loved it!

Again, you can find all my pins at pinterest.com/Chicagocm

I may take tomorrow off, I'll be baking Sunday for a party and have a feeling I'll be making more than 1 pin.

Enjoy your weekend !!

Day 4- pancake #fail

For breakfast Kelly and I tried to make this pin, of banana and egg pancake. It's supposed to be a healthy substitute for flour pancakes but really became just a mess. It didn't taste anything like a pancake, and was very messy. Here's the pic of the pin of what it was supposed to look like:

It actually looked like this:

Maybe we didn't mash the banana enough? Maybe we just don't like eggs as much as everyone else? Maybe we were expecting pancakes? On to another pin!

Day 3 - coffee creamer & a candle

Woke up early and jumped on Pinterest. Saw a recipe for a 3 ingredient homemade coffee creamer and new it was something we were almost out off. This lead me to:

Pin #1--
Click on the coffee creamer recipe here. This was an easy pin, because I realized we had some leftover condensed milk from the banana cake made Day 1. Followed the easy instructions and the verdict will be in tomorrow morning when my fiancee tries it in her morning coffee.

Pin #2--

In a way to save a few pennies , we decided to do homemade Valentine's day gifts for each other this year. I've been meaning to try out the hot glue gun my sister gave me for Christmas (I know, I ask for silly gifts..) and started with this  decorative piece. I used a small jar we already had and frosted glass spray paint. I made a small mistake on the "L" when I was writing love, but it was easy to fix since it was just hot glue. Too cute not to show it off almost a month early!

Day 2- Two projects

I had some more free time today, so I decided to do two projects- both in the kitchen!

Pin #1--

The first one is a skinny taco dip , minus the olives. Super easy to make, and I've had it before at parties. I usually notice that it is store bought, and I knew that it would be a very inexpensive recipe to make. I cut the recipe in half, even though it's skinny there are only two of us in the house! The picture of what I made is below.

Pin #2--

A few months ago I found an index card of a family recipe my grandma hand wrote. Since we just moved I knew I wanted to follow this pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/221802350369036090/  ; to hang her recipe in the kitchen. I chose a two section frame and hung it above the kitchen sink. She passed away in June 2010 and it's great way to remember her daily. 

Day 1- banana cake

First, here's a link to my pin boards on pinterest-- http://pinterest.com/chicagocm/
You can find me as "chicagocm"


After waiting a few days for the bananas to really ripen, I attempted the banana cake pictured below ( Http://pinterest.com/pin/221802350368333139/). I was nervous that the frosting on the cake would be too sweet ( and I think it was), but the cake itself was fantastic. The suggested baking time was 20 minutes, and I let it bake for about 30. The sides were brown, but still very moist. Not too difficult to make and delicious for someone who loves banana. Day 1= delicious !