Controlling Out of Control Hair

Awhile back, I posted my "new do." Which I absolutely adore, even though I really need to get a hair cut. Unfortunately, on hot humid days much like today, it looks more like this.

I've always like headbands but hated wearing them for a variety of reasons. Those little plastic ones hurt, those skinny little elastic ones don't do much when you have thick, curly hair, and those wide jersey ones just look wrong. Then I found this on pinterest but was too cheap to pay $26 for a headband.

So this afternoon and 15 minutes later, I ended up with this.

And had the Lil' Man model.

 Two simple rectangles twisted together to make the "knot" at top and an elastic band from my daughter's hair basket underneath.

So comfortable.

Now I'm going to go make a bunch more.

And then use them BEFORE my hair starts looking like it did in the first picture.

Lisa

ps - Yes, it's the middle of June and I still have a Santa Claus up. I figure if he makes it to the 4th of July, I might as well just say I'm decorating early.

My new planters

The other day, during the snake situation. I was in the process of planting flowers. Scrunging through the shed, I found a variety of items to use.

The tall shelving unit was brought home when we were cleaning out the rental property last spring. I put nail holes in the bottom to help with water drainage and filled the buckets full of flower seeds and pumpkin plants.

These two dishes were also brought out of the rental property.

My last set of planters were actually mine and the bigger pot was filled with spinach.

The glider was also a free find last spring. I was driving through town and it was sitting in a front yard with a free sign on it. Just needed a good scrubbing and a coat of paint.

Lisa

A Simple Sunday Afternoon and the Snake

It all started out innocent enough. Farmer took the little farmer to buy a new piece of farm equipment. So the little man and Miss Em and I took off to buy some very important things for the farm. You know, like a rose bush, potting soil, flowers and some tomato cages. When we got home, I began planting the new bushes in the front flower bed and then I moved to the back of the house and started planting the flowers but I needed the flower pot in the corner.

However, it was quite buried and tangled beneath the grape vine so I enlisted the help of the Farmer to help me untangle and hang the vine. With the planter freed, I began planting all my flowers but realized I had more flowers than pots. Too cheap to go back to the store to buy pots, I scouted the shed and saw this rack.

But I couldn't find the bins. (I'll show you the end result of my project tomorrow.) The Farmer though they were in the garage off the house. In the above picture, the garage is to the right, the laundry room is the left along with an entry door. Now in the summer, the kids usually prop this door open so they can come in and out of the house without having to bug me when they can't get the handle open.

Have y'all figured out where this is leading??

Uh huh, you guessed it. I went into the house to find the bins to find a 3 1/2 foot snake in my laundry room.

I seriously do not think I have ran that fast in years.

I seriously think the neighbors a mile away heard me screaming.

I seriously think I scared the crap outta the Farmer with my screaming for him to come RIGHT NOW!

Apparently, we roused the snake outta his nice cool home by messing with the grape vine. The Farmer called his dad and the neighbors to all come see because he wanted to know what kind of snake it was so he knew whether or not to kill it.

The Farmer and I had a screaming fight (okay really it was just me screaming) that it doesn't matter what kind of snake it is because the only good snake is a dead one. Their supposed rationale is that a bull snake (which apparently what is was) is good at eating mice around the farm.

Their logic is totally ridiculous.

Unfortunately, they removed to the snake to the field across the road.

There may be a farm for sale shortly.

Lisa

Simple Summer Jammies

It started out with me wanting to make my oldest some "simple" summer pajamas using this tutorial. I even picked up this t-shirt on the clearance rack at walmart for a dollar.

Apparently, I have issues with measuring. They were very blousy and a tad short. I did the mature thing and threw them towards the trash and went and did some manual labor.

I came back to them awhile later.

I added a simple bodice and trimmed the top, back and armholes with foldover elastic.

Now I'll be making some more. This is a great way to repurpose t-shirts! Miss Em says they are light and airy...the perfect summer jammies.

Lisa

Grandma's Chocolate Syrup

My middle child's favorite food is chocolate, followed by blueberries. He has quite the little sweet tooth for a 3-year-old. He's also my hyper child so we like to watch what he's getting in his food (i.e. high fructose corn syrup and sugar and 482 other ingredients in something as simple as chocolate syrup). When the chocolate syrup ran out, I called grandma to get a recipe.

Grandma's Chocolate Syrup

1 1/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups sugar (I used Splenda)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cups boiling water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combined cocoa, Splenda, and salt. Gradually add boiling water. Stir over medium heat until smooth (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Store in fridge.

Ta-da! Something I no longer feel horrible about feeding my chocolate loving three-year-old!

Lisa

Rhubarb Kiwi Jam

Let me start by saying to look past the picture and make this jam! It is good and surprisingly, for jam, not at all that unhealthy. This is so good that the evening shift girl at work tried some and then got mad when I put it in my bag to take home until I explained there was another jar in the fridge.

I manage an group home so I spend a lot of time cooking and baking. I had brought in rhubarb to make rhubarb dessert and had some left over. We also had some leftover kiwi that were bordering on going bad and this is what I came up with.

Rhubarb Kiwi Jam

3 cups chopped rhubarb
4 cups chopped kiwi
1/4 cup sugar (Splenda is what I used)
1/4 cup vinegar
Oh about a teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup lemon juice

I added all ingredients but the kiwi and cooked until the rhubarb broke down. Stirred in the kiwi and cooked for about 10-12 minutes.

The result...a sweet, tart jam that I definately want to make more of!

Lisa

On chasing cattle

When having farm animals, cattle in particular, there are certain things that are bound to happen. The biggest is that cattle will go through the fence when the Farmer is not home to chase them.

Cattle also have a horrible timing. If it's raining, storming, snowing, you're late for work, it's the middle of the night, you and the kids are all dressed for church, and nobody is around to come help you chase them, they WILL go through the fence.

I've chased cattle pregnant, I've chased cattle with babies and toddlers strapped to my back. I've chased cattle pregnant, in the pouring rain, at 2 in the morning. I've chased cattle barefoot, in flip flops and in Nikes. I've chased cattle in freshly plowed fields and through corn that's 8 feet high. I've tried bribing them with corn, sweet talking, swearing, and down right running. I've tried evasive maneveurs and last second whims but have found that dumb luck is usually how you get them back into the pasture.  

Also, if you get a pedicure, the cattle are bound to go through the fence.

Oh, can you tell what I did tonight?

Lisa