Gak-licious?

Hooooot, dry summer days call for some fun, inside activities to keep three kiddos happy and make for some great memories this summer.

I cannot say enough how much I LOVE spending times with these three kiddos. They've been a fun part of my life for several years now, so it is a super sweet treat to be able to hang out with them one day a week this summer.

I love having an excuse to see and act like a big kid with them. When I found this recipe for gak I knew immediately that we needed to do this. We tripled the following recipe so they each had a batch, but they could have been just as happy with a third of what they had.

Gather up these supplies:
2 bottles white glue (4 oz each)
Food coloring (I used neon gel colors)
1 tsp Borax (Our local Wal-Mart didn't have it, so my amazing hubby picked some up at Marsh. If you're local, I will totally give you a tsp. or more of Borax so you don't have to buy your own.)
Plastic cup or bowl

Empty bottles of glue into small container. (We used plastic cups for this step, too). Fill the glue bottles with water. Shake. Empty into the small container.

In a separate plastic cup or bowl, mix together 1/2 cup warm water with 1 tsp. Borax. Stir until Borax is dissolved.

Slowly add the Borax mixture to the glue. Add the food coloring quickly, too. I encouraged the kiddos to use no more than 1/2 of the tube. The pink was about 3/4 of the tube.

We didn't use our spoons for long because it firmed up quickly. I poured it onto the counter even when fairly runny and they began working with it using their hands.

 (The little guy was convinced it looked like mac and cheese. I had to tell him a couple of times not to put it near/in his mouth. Gak is simply not delicious!)

The shrieks and amazement at first touch were well worth the mess (and ruined shirt) we made! Have to love activities that provide a good amount of entertainment.

 The orange dog the littlest one made.

Ziploc bags work well to hold the gak when done. Just be sure and get the air out and save it to play with it another day.


We enjoyed this recipe courtesy of a post at Brown Paper Packages.

Alternative drying rack?

Where is your clean laundry right now? 

In the basket?
In the dryer?
On the floor?
On the bed?
On the couch?

Or do you put it away?

Before being put away my laundry can often be found in the... shower!

No, I don't rinse my laundry in the shower... I pinch pennies by DRYING it in the shower.

When living on my own I had a dryer that didn't seem to work well at all. Rather than spend money by running it, I decided to 'line dry' my laundry inside. It still comes in handy with the stuff that was supposed to skip the dryer anyway, the jeans that make the dryer run nonstop, or during a heat wave when you don't want to run any more appliances than necessary. 

All you need is an extra shower rod (you can get these for under $7 at your neighborhood store). Put it up in the back of the shower, but far enough away from the wall that your laundry has some air flow between it and the wall. Hang up your wet laundry and walk away. It can dry in an hour or all day/overnight depending on the fabric and the temperature of your home.

If you want to keep it hidden from guests who are coming over, hang it up on the back rod, close the curtain, and then walk away.

OR...

If you're like me and realize that is a risk worth taking, you can leave your curtain pushed back and hang clothes on the rod your shower curtain is on, too.

 
I really want a clothes umbrella outside. However, we are on this lovely thing called a budget, and that is not top priority. I rather like using my shower rod line for drying clothes as an alternative.

Just wait till you find out where I keep my dirty clothes before washing...

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken...

I love my crockpot for those days when I don't feel like cooking, standing over a hot stove, turning on a hot oven in this crazy heat we've been having, or for those days I know I won't be home. So, when I found a recipe for the crockpot using only three ingredients I was pretty excited to say the least!

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
4-6 chicken breasts
1 can pineapple tidbits
1 bottle bbq sauce (I use Bullseye because they have some varieties without high fructose corn syrup.)

Put chicken in crockpot and cover with bbq sauce and pineapple. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Serve over rice. (We chose not because neither one of us was really all that hungry.)

I stuck it in the crockpot and walked out the door at about 6:45. Nick arrived home about 3:15 and turned it off. Obviously, the chicken cooked longer than 6 hours, but I figured it wouldn't hurt too much... I doubt it is the reason why, but both of us said we would pass on making it again. The chicken (a brand I normally use) was tough and chewy. I have another recipe for bbq chicken in the crockpot we like better that we'll stick with (and that I'll post here sometime 'soon'). 

Looks good and worth you giving it a shot since everyone has different tastes, but I'm not highly suggesting this one.

Original source is no longer available for this one according to Pinterest.

Oodles of Fun With (Pool) Noodles...

These are hoooooot summer days. It's no fun being outside and being cooped up inside is just sometimes plain boring. So, in an effort to make some fun for the kiddos I get to hang out with one day a week (and for myself since I can still be a kid in sooo many ways) craftiness, projects, games etc have been happening in their kitchen.

The kiddos are spread in age from 6th, 4th, and 1st grade. The oldest are girls. The youngest a boy. So, coming up with a variety of activities all three will enjoy has involved a little more work than in the past when I've been able to spend time with them.

They really had fun with dollar store pool noodles, beads from around their house, and some extra packing tape left over from their recent move. I was expecting maybe 15 minutes of fun, largely for the boy, but I was pleasantly surprised when over an hour was spent thinking, planning, scheming, learning, and being creative during this activity.

I cut the noodles in half with a knife and they were off... 

The younger two had fun trying to race their marbles/beads down the noodle on the stairs. They added loops and mountains and tested different theories. Then they got a bit more creative and started cutting, taping, punching holes... just like their big sister whose creation looked a bit more elaborate... 

What you can't see in the pictures is that she added holes and had the marble traveling from the top all the way to the bottom of her creation. Talk about fancy pants. Reminded me of indoor recess days  and the game MouseTrap.

Total cost to me: $2.14
Totally worth over an hour of fun!