Last year I was dubbed the 'meanest mom in the world'. No kidding! I won that title by making my daughter abide by school rules. Of course "all the other moms let their kids do it!" My daughter wanted to dye her hair different colors using Kool-aid and I refused to let her.
It was against school policy to have 'unnaturally colored hair' and I was against breaking the rules. So she didn't get to dye her hair even though many of her friends did, and I won my meanest mom title. Well, she graduated this year, so not only did I let her dip dye her hair....I did it for her!
How to dye hair with Kool-aid
It was super simple really....all we needed was unsweetened Kool-aid, boiling water, a few bowls and some paper towels. Oh, and a nice day so we could go outside in case there were drips! Didn't want to wreck the carpet, ya know?
I love mint! Mint tea, mint flavorings, mint in lotions potions and brews oh my! Spearmint, peppermint, lemon mint, chocolate mint...I could go on and on. The best way to use mint is fresh, so of course I need to grow some every year. Luckily mint is a super easy to grow perennial and one plant can produce fresh mint for years!
However, mint is a very invasive plant. It reproduces by sending out roots called runners just below the soil. First you'll notice small mint plants popping up close to the parent plant. Then you'll notice them farther and farther away until suddenly they're everywhere!
Since the mint plant is sending out runners in different directions, it seems to take over all at once. So one mint plant can quickly turn into a garden full! This is why you need to grow mint in a container.
By keeping the roots neatly contained in a planter, you will prevent them from sending out those runners under the soil line.
It's been in the 80's here for the last few days and we're all hanging out in the air conditioning as much as possible. It's been miserable! I feel awful for the animals, they just seem so uncomfortable in this heat. We were sitting outside eating yogurt Popsicles and the dogs were begging for them when I started to think about whether I could give them one or not. One thought leads to another and I decide that I can make them some dog safe popsicle's.
This idea leads to the internet and an overload of recipes and methods. I sorta mix matched them all together and this is what I came up with:
The middle child graduated from high school this year. Wow, I'm getting old! Right? Anyway: I've mentioned before that we're originally from Pittsburgh which is over an hour away. To make a really long story super short, we ended up with 2 graduation parties. 1 in Pittsburgh for the family, and a smaller one at home for the school friends.
So we had a lot of work to do to make the 2 parties different, yet not blow the budget completely!
It took a lot of planning but we were determined to make each party unique. One of the ideas I saw during the planning process was a memory jar kit. A plain thin glass jar with a cardboard plaque that said to write a memory to place inside for the grad. B-O-R-I-N-G! I took the idea and ran with it, hitting the Walmart and the Dollar tree for some supplies.
When I first heard this recipe I didn't quite believe it. Only 3 ingredients and they actually taste like Butterfingers? No way! That is not even possible! Then I listened to the ingredients: candy corn, peanut butter and chocolate chips. Now that is too intriguing not to try! Right? The recipe went like this: 1 bag of candy corn, the equivalent in peanut butter and enough chocolate to cover it.
I picked some wildflowers yesterday. I'm sure most people would think they were boring or weedy, but I think they're lovely. When I saw them I knew that I just had to cut some to bring home with me. (they were in my woods so it's ok, but get permission otherwise) There were 2 different types of flowers so I cut a few of each. At the end of our driveway I also found some small white daisy's for filler.
We were having dinner outside on the back patio tonight when we heard a small 'thump'. Something fluttered to the ground behind us and I jumped up to take a look. The dogs jumped up too, so seeing it was a small bird I instantly scooped it up in my hands before they got a chance to investigate further. No need to cause it more stress with big dog noses being shoved into its face!
It was the most delicate little thing I have ever seen.
A hummingbird ran into the window!
A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird had flown into one of the picture windows and fallen to the patio below. It's body was no longer then my pinky finger and it was the most vibrant living creature I have ever seen.
Clearly dazed, it didn't fight as I held it...it just sort of perched there on my hand. At first it sat with its wings outstretched. After about a minute, it folded its wings in and still just sat there with its eyes closed.
