wedding preperations at home

Weddings are expensive, there is no need to argue with that statement. however there are many ways you can cut the costs of a wedding starting with making your own decorations, invitation, centerpieces, ect. in a previous blog i showed you how i did the chalkboard mason jars which we are using for the wedding rehearsal center pieces. here is my idea for what is going to be going inside the mason jars.
All you will need are some plastic flowers, water, and glass pebbles. The colors for the wedding are red, black, and the chosen flower is the orchid. So for the center pieces we went out and bought small red flowers and white orchids from Hobby Lobby, along with an assortment of white, clear, and white mate pebbles. To start off, place the pebbles in the bottom of the jar. The pebbles will be used to keep the flowers in place. You only need to fill the jar to barley a fourth of the way full with pebbles. Next you will stick in the small flowers into the jar and cut accordingly so that the flowers don't reach any higher than the top of the jar. Next you will add in a single orchid into the center of the red flowers. Finally you fill with water and there you go! Another idea that you can use this for, if you don't like the white orchid on top is to leave room in the jar for a candle to float on top of the water. I think this is my favorite way to do this center piece because a candle floating on water over flowers is very beautiful to have for decoration. However the candle version is probably best for night time or outside occasions, rather than a middle of the day occasion. This center piece i would describe as being pretty casual with the mason jars, but still simple and pleasing to the eye.

Here is an example, not of my own taking.

chalkboard mason jars

mason jars can be used for almost anything. you can use them as glasses, candle holders, or as center pieces for a rehearsal dinner. The craft i'm about to show you is something i am working on for my brothers wedding. However you can use this for any type of center pieces or as candle holders, which is my plan after the rehearsal dinner. whats even better is using chalk board paint because it allows you to decorate and write anything and then being able to erase it and customize it for any occasion.

Step one: use tape to block out square block or really any straight  edge shape.
Tip: its a good idea to have a couple practice jars,  you can use ones you don't  about such as recycles glass food jars from food like salsa, or nacho cheese.
Step two: take a square tipped brush to paint on black chalk paint. you can buy it at stores such as Hobby Lobby, Micheal, or as i was lucky enough to find small bottles in the dollar section at target.
tip: it only took 1 tiny bottle like this to cover about 10 mason jars like i did and there is still plenty left to do more. don't over estimate how much you need, a little bottle can go a long way.

Step three: Lay jars horizontally while waiting for paint to dry and then add another coat of paint on. i suggest laying the mason jars on empty egg cartons to keep them from rolling and smudging the paint.
Tip: I found that cardboard cartoons worked better than styrafoam. if you are painting both sides of the mason jar as i did some of the paper from the egg cartoon may stick to the paint, but after both sides have dried it can be easily covered up by applying a small bit of paint on the paper that is stuck. You will be able to set the jar vertacly after this because that little bit of paint wont drip like it would have in the begining when you put on paint.

Step four: peel off tape
tip: use an X-acto knife to scrap off any paint that smudged or leaked through the tape.

Step five: for any decoration or words you want to be permanent on the paint use a white paint permanent marker as i did for one of my practice jars. otherwise use regular chalk to draw and erase what ever you would like.

HGTV shows

I've blogged before about different HGTV shows and my rating of them and why or why not you should watch them, but i thought i should write a post about my overall rating of HGTV shows in general. I love watching HGTV shows when i'm super bored in the summer, but don't get to thinking that all i watch are HGTV shows. i am way to busy to have time to sit down and watch any kind of TV, and if i do, its usually some sitcom on Netflix. What ive found is wrong with HGTV shows is once you realize that most of them are fake, set up, or just arent as great as they are shown on television, it becomes less fun to watch. Most shows the renovations are real, but the expense isn't cheep. That is why still to this day i will say that the best show ever on HGTV was Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It probably didn't give you as much advice on home improvement as other shows do, but this show would make a big and beautiful house for an amazing worthy family and that is what made the show so great.
Some People make a huge deal about how a lot of the shows on HGTV are fake, and yah it may be true, but sometimes if they didn't have those fake parts to the show, the show wouldn't be as good. That's the reason they manipulate what you get to see on TV, and it makes sense. It ruins the fun to know all the negative parts of the show.

feminism in the home

    I'd just like to start by saying that I would not consider myself a feminist and I do not agree that the stereotype I of women in a home is always true but i also agree that the stereotype does still exist. In class we were given a paper to read and them talk about in discussion. the title of the paper was "feminism is dead", just by the title you can guess what the paper was about. so when thinking about the arguments of how women are treated differently one that came up was women's role at home.

    It’s a stereotype for many people that women are the ones who clean, cook, and take care of the home and the kids, and the men are the ones who do the heavy lifting work and then otherwise they just sit back and let the women take care of them. I of course, like many women, disagree with this stereotype. I think it can be either gender who takes certain jobs around the home, but there’s nothing sexist if it is the case that the women does the dishes and the man mows the lawn. However you can’t argue that the stereotype doesn’t apply in a lot of situations. In my AP psychology class everyone took a survey about which parent in the house did which chore around the house. For the most part, including in my home, everyone got the same results. The results were that the mother seems to do all the stereotypical “female” chores, such as cooking and laundry, and the dad does most of the “male” chores, such as mow the lawn and pay the bills. so as you can see in most homes, whether they think this way of living should exist or not, it it just the way they work in their home. my dad doesn't complain that "this is a women's job" when he is asked to do the dishes or cook dinner, but usually he only does these chores when he is asked to becasue my mom will be gone for a while. Even then usually those chores are passed on to me or one of my sisters. there are examples however where i see this stereotype doesn't exist, such as my uncles house. in their family my uncle is the one who cooks every meal, and honestly that's just becasue hes a better cook than my aunt. I don't see what happens in their daily lives with the rest of the chores, but i know for the most part they both do all the chores in the house, it just depends on who is there and who has the time to do the things that need to be done. I honestly think this is how a house should run. Any married couple, no matter the genders, should split the chores. I think its the key to a happy home and a happy life. If everyone, including the kids, did every chore no matter what stereotypical label is put on that certain chore, then I think everyone, especially the kids, would learn that there is no difference between what gender should do and can do what chore. People may think this isn't a big issue, and other may over react to how big of an issue this is. However what i believe is that if the wife is good at cooking and can clean and hates to mow the lawn, that's fine, and is the husband is good at cooking and can clean, and hates to mow the lawn, that's fine too. just make sure someone mows the lawn, unless you live in California, then you are probably fine, but back to the point. There's nothing wrong with doing the stereotypical 'female" or "male" chores and there's nothing wrong with the husband cooking, or the wife fixing the plumbing. All you need to do it make sure the stuff that needs to get done, gets done, no matter who does it. However i must add this one bit, make sure its evenly split. in a home where one of the spouses does the majority of the house work and the other one just sits back and relaxes, I would have to imagine that it would not settle well with a certain person in the relationship. So I guess there is my on going argument on how feminism in the home is not a thing, stereotypes are always there, but binding by them or not works either way. 

    

different ways to get stains out

stains are the most annoying and frustraiting thing that happens on a daily basis, but not every method works for every stain. so here is a list of just some of the ones i find to be most successful.  
when getting out any stain its best to try to remove the stian as soon as possible becasue once it becomes dry and hard it is 10 times harder to get out.

 LOC- its a miracle worker. use this is quickly remove stains by applying LOC and then rubbing it in. ususaly stains will come out just from this

Oxy-clean- pray right before you put in wash to help stain removal. works on everything
     both oxy-c lean and LOC are great for getting out blood and ink stains. if you are a women you know how important that is.

Clorox- be careful because it really only works on whites and if used on any other color it will cause clothes to drastically fade or turn white

cold water- alwasy use cold water when trying to get out stains

rubbing, rub the stain with soup, water, and what ever cleaning supply until the stain comes out.

dont wash or dry tell stains are all the way out

hydroporoxide can also help a lot with getting out stains, but careful not to over rub and wear out the color.

difference between yellow and blue light

difference between LED lights and fluorescent lights. many people still don't understand the different between the two and i think its important to know when going out shopping for new lights in the house.
  LED lights tend to give of a white or "blue" color. personally its not a very warm and inviting color for your home, which works out okay because these types of bulbs are best for direct light. so for example a flashlight or a bed lamp because the light will go exactly where it is pointed
  Fluorescent lights are different because they give off more of a yellow light which is more of an inviting and soft light that you would want in your home. they are best for lighting up an entire room such as your living room or even a warehouse.
  As far as quality of light bulbs, LED lights last about 6 times longer as fluorescent bulbs do and are 5 times more efficient because they use less watts while still lasting longer. this all taken into account LED lights are more expensive than fluorescent lights. Also keep in mind that one dangerous hazard about LED lights is that they contain mercury which can be poisonous if the bulb is broken.

how to get the nasty sticky stuff off your glass jars

A great material that can be used in many crafts and DIY projects are glass jars, but you don't always need to go out and buy some. i'm sure you have many already in your kitchen. instead of sticking the glass jars from the store bought food, you can clean it out and re-use it. whats annoying about this though is getting off the nasty sticky stuff after you have ripped off the paper logo that's wrapped around it. so here is my solution to that problem:

After you have tried the constant scratching and rubbing to get the paper and glue off the jar, put a layer of peanut butter on the jar and let it sit there. next time you are at the sink just wash and wipe the peanut butter off and the paper and glue will come right off with it. as easy at that!

how to do ukrainian egg art

my suggestion is of course to buy a learning booklet and maybe even take a class on it. however taking a class can take up time you don't have. i highly advice getting a booklet to learn from as well and not just rely on this post, but i will tell you how to do Ukrainian egg art and any tips i have from my own experience.

  your 1st step is to find the design in the book you want to do.
  next you grab your regular egg straight out of the cartoon of eggs and follow to instructions that should tell you to draw guide lines around the egg to mark the cross sections of the longitude and latitude lines on the egg so that you know the center. usually you have to buy a certain holder for your egg. or you do what some people do and have a friend hold it and twist it as you draw your lines. although i highly suggest buying the holder for the egg, it makes it 10 times easier on you and a lot more accurate.
  use light pencil strokes when drawing in your guide lines for the design. the pencil should be able to come off with just some water if you draw light enough, however try not to smudge it.
  the design booklet should tell you the order for dying the egg, but if you are making up your own design in your head just keep in mind that lightest colors should always go first and that some light colors will mix a little bit when they over lap. another tip is in small area designs just use a Q-tip to dye that area
  the wax's purpose is to keep the areas you put wax on white, or the color you started the egg at, that color for when you sip the egg in the die.
  after you have your wax on you can dip your egg in the die. easiest step in the whole process, just make sure not to drop the egg!
  now on to the melting of the wax. this is a long process that will take most of your patients. it can seem very fun, fast, and easy, but if you get too careless while melting the wax you could end up burning the egg shell which will then leave a nasty black stain that wont come off. always keep the egg a good distance from the candle. it may seem like its not melting, or its melting too slow and you can get closer, but that's how you end up getting too close because you just want the melting to go faster. don't fall for this trick!
  the waxing and dying steps continue to repeat themselves until you get the the big part. the moment when the egg is done but there is still the yoke inside the egg. you cant keep it in forever so you are going to have to some how get the egg yolk out. so its needle time, and this is where many people crack under pressure (terrible pun intended). i remember one of the 1st eggs i ever did, i had worked on it all week and i was finally done and so proud of my work, and i cracked it right at this step because i held onto the egg too hard. my suggestion on this step is to just take a deep breath and stick the needle in nice and carefully, making sure to suck the egg out slowly and not too fast because you don't want to add to the pressure that's built up inside the egg.

well i hope this helped you in anyway to make the best Ukrainian egg art you can make. i do still want to remind you that this can not tell you everything you need to know, you always want to buy the full kit and instruction booklet.

home alone sick?

being home sick is the worst, sure in elementary school it was the best thing ever because you get to skip school. However when you get older you learn that missing school or work just means more work to make up when you get back because we all know we aren't going to do that work while we are sick. so what do you do when you are home alone sick? watch movies, sleep, and eat a popsicles? sure that sounds great, unless you are sick for over a week and then you just get sick and tired of being trapped on the couch doing the same thing over and over again, which is nothing. So here are some things to keep you ocupied while home alone sick.

color a coloring book. seems childish but it will calm your mind and it actually quite soothing

do some sick day yoga. do some easy poses that dont work you out too much but get you up yet still relaxed. my favorite is the child's pose. because some of the usual posed might be a bit of a strain because you are sick, try using a pillow for support. some other posed are the seated side bend where you sit criss-cross apple sauce and with one arm over your head lean the opposite side of that arm in the air.

while you should rest most of the time it is good to get up and move around. its also important to eat healthy, so why not do both. getting up and walking around in the kitchen can sometimes be all you can take, but its a start to actually getting up more and more to get better. soup and or smoothies are always my go to when i'm sick. i also suggest using ice cream to make the smoothie thicker and sweeter.

make a bored jar. its just as it sounds, fill any jar with pieces of paper of things to do when you are bored. one this will give you something to do now when you are bored, and help you another time when you are bored and need something to do.

maybe if you aren't home alone bored games, or maybe card games are always sometime fun and easy to do. they also get your brain moving instead of just sitting with your eyes glues onto the TV all day.

something that i find i don't have time for in my usual week is a nice long hot bath. so while you have the time off, take this as a chance to get out the candles, bath bombs, and put on some music or read a book and just relax. just be sure not to fall asleep! i know if sounds ridiculous to remind someone of that but it happens and its a very unsafe thing to do. that's why reading a book is always nice because it keeps you awake and focused.

i hope this helps you on your next sick day because even though being sick stinks, it sure is nice to have a day off from school and work.

how to hang a college of pictures in your room

I do not think about it much but i use a camera almost every day. for people of different ages I’m sure it varies but whether it’s using snapchat, taking any picture on your phone, or professional pictures with a nice camera, you use a camera more than you may think. the problem many people seem to have is not knowing what to do with all of these pictures. some you may frame and put on the wall and other you do not even remember why you still have them on your phone but you still can’t imagine deleting them. I know i find it hard to delete any picture, because every picture have a story and is a memory that you feel if you delete from your phone you will forget forever. however if you are like me and use your camera almost every day, you probably do not have enough storage to keep all those memories on your phone. i honestly do not have the table surface space for a framed picture, or enough frames for all my pictures, but what i do have is some string, nail, hammer, and an open wall in my room to put up all my pictures.

I’d just like to explain that finally figuring out the best way to do this took some trial and error. I knew what i essentially wanted was like continuous rows of my pictures hanging on my one wall, i just didn't know how to do it. so I’ll tell you what not to do and then go into what to do. i first tried to use those command hanging strip hooks to hang up the string and those were a waste of money. they couldn't hold the weight of the pictures and paper clips that i was using to hang up the pictures. by the way, paper clips were not a good method for hanging the picture up. they made it so the pictures were always tuned one direction instead of straight ahead. next i tried to using nails and hanging the string as one continuous string going from each nail to the next and down to the next row of 2 nails. that method did not work either because the string would not stay tight enough. what i found to work the best was to have 4 rows each with 1 nail of either side of the row where the pictures would go. then i would  measure and cut durable thick string, leaving enough extra for human error. then i tied each end to the 2 nails so it was fairly tight. lastly i used mini closed pins to hang the pictures of the string. another tip if you have many pictures and not a lot of wall space like myself, print off pictures that are half the size of regular 4 by 6 pictures so that they take up less space. i also found that it just looks better overall with the smaller pictures, the bigger pictures looked too bulky and stood out in the room. that pretty much all there is to it. if you want to add some color i suggest painting the close pins in fun ways to go with the color scheme of your room.