March Madness Is Upon Us

Happy March, it is almost Spring, AND we had one of the warmest winters that Illinois has recorded.  Here is the Chicago Tribune mini article/video about it.

Been doing some experimenting at the Sarah F's lab and have a few things for you all.  First being the magnetic strip I put up in the bathroom for all my bobby pins and things. This one I was really really excited about it!

 

I had kinda a hard time finding it because I was going to Home Depot, and Staples trying to find something that was a magnetic strip, not just a metal strip that can have magnets on it. I finally did find something at Hobby Lobby for $6.99 and it it a strip that has adhesive on the back to stick directly on the wall.  I have found with previous experience that the adhesive is not that strong and it usually has to be reinforced with some other type of glue. I used glue dots, and a little bit of hot glue to stick it directly onto the wall.  I was really hoping for something that did magnetize strongly so that I could also stick my tweezers on it, but it is too weak.  This might be the solution for the heavier things if needed.  Still excited for the bobby pins, and for them to be all in one place. WHOA!

A little while back I also bought a magnetic key/mail holder from the Container Store and mounted it right by the door.  This is what it looks like! I suppose this post should have been called, "I'm obsessed with magnetic things."  It really is great because there is a place to put the keys right when you walk in the door, and it is incredibly inexpensive.

Onto non-magnetized things, I have been swimming occasionally and have the problem of getting water in my ear and just wanting to hang out and NOT leave.  Sometimes the hoping on one foot while tilting your head so the water drains out works, but I also found another little trick if that also doesn't work.  Jump on the bed, preferably on the knees, about 3 or 4 times and then fall over to the side of ear where the water is bothering you.  The trick is to literally fall. I was throwing my head into the bed and it wasn't working so hot, but if you just fall, it seemed to come right out.  Don't hurt yourself!

Until next time. Flanagan out.

A Plethora Of Things

Happy February everyone, filled with no snow and 6 more weeks of winter, supposedly. I have just been collecting a hodgepodge of things for all walks of life, so I hope they can be useful to you. 

Gift Tags --> This was a completely donated idea, and I thank you for it. At the end of the holiday season you always have all your cards that were sent to you, and instead of throwing/recycling them you can make them into gift tags for the following year. Maybe get those scissors that have a funky blade, and cut away the part that is really cute where the back side is of course blank. Punch a hole, run some string through it, and TA DA! you have a sweet new gift tag.

Folding Fitted Sheets --> I just tried this one today, and loved it. Those fitted sheets are always such a pain in the A.

How to Organize the linen closet --> After I folded my fitted sheets, then I grouped together the others and put them in the pillow cases to have them be more organized and space smart in the closet.

This is not a picture of my closet.


Notes on the mirror--> I have been doing this for a while but it didn't really dawn on me until recently that it could be a blog idea. Sometimes I am the phone, or I need to make of list of things and I don't have a pen or paper. For me personally I am always brainstorming in the shower, so I keep some DRY ERASE markers in the drawer in the bathroom and write with them directly on the mirror. Neat! This could also be great with kids, but you do have to watch if they decide to decorate the walls.  It can also easily be removed with windex or vinegar and water. 

Speaker by a simple bowl --> My sister sent me a link to this great idea for taking a bowl and putting your ipod of phone into it to amplify the sound.  It is kid tested, mother approved and does in fact work. It doesn't make it loud enough to hear over an entire room of people, but if you need just a little extra sound it is pretty useful.  Speaker in a bowl!

Keeping that beautiful skin --> I read an article in Allure all about how to make your skin the best that it could possibly be in 2012. It is the year for YOUR skin, how exciting! I found some parts interesting, and thought I might pass them on. 

1. Moisturize after showering- Warm showers strip your skin of it oils, as does the dry winter air naturally, so lube up right after you get out of the shower. It is recommended that you do so within ten minutes of turning off the water, if you wait any longer your skin starts loosing water vapor, drying it out more. 
2. Take off your makeup before bed- I always wait until I am too tired and want to give up on it, but what the article said that I particularly liked was when you are home for the night, take it off right away, so when you are too tired, it is already done. I tell you geniuses that write for that Allure magazine. 
3. Clean up after the gym- This is of course very obvious, but I am guilty of starting to do things around the house or just in general while I am still in my sweaty clothes. The article suggested to switch out of clothes right away and if possible shower as soon as available. Otherwise all those pores get clogged from sweating and your skin will show for it. 
4. Clean your makeup brushes- Makeup and skin oils build up which creates a breeding ground for bacteria that could cause irritation. Wash your tools monthly with liquid hand soap or baby shampoo and luke warm water, rinse well and squeeze out excess water. I did do this but then I just let the brushes dry however they were laid down. My suggestion is reshape them into how you like them right after washing, it helps a lot. 
5. Keep your hands from your face- The act of touching your face with your fingers brings pore-clogging oils and dirts to the skin. Recommended is to not touch at all, but if you are like me and cannot resist, it is suggested applying over the counter hydrocortisone cream right away which helps with the inflammation and prevent long lasting marks. 

A joke to leave you with until next time. What do you call it when you mix a cow with a smurf? Blue cheese! The smurfs movie gave me the pleasure of this joke. 

How To Make A Paper Snowflake

HI! When the winter comes I love making these winter (paper) snowflakes to hang around the house.  They are rather simple to make, and take about 16 minutes (on average) and I wanted to share with you how to create these beauties.  The end result is the picture right below, but I have broken down step by step, with pictures, the construction process of one of these bad boys. 

Supplies you are going to need: 

- 8  pieces of 11x8 1/2 paper (they can be any color, and I find computer paper is the easiest to manipulate)

-A pair of scissors

-Some scotch tape

-And finally, a stapler

1. Fold the paper to make a perfect square. This is done by simply folding over the the corner to the nearest edge. 

2. Cut off the excess strip of paper, after done will form a folded triangle

 3. Fold the paper in half again (this has been done two times now) and you will still have the shape of a triangle, but just a smaller one.  MAKE SURE the folded part is closest to your stomach or for all intent and purposes the bottom.  ALSO, the long triangle side (hypotenuse) should be on the right. This is the key to the whole thing, and I think the hardest part. 

 4.  This part might get a little tricky too, but I have faith. You are then going to cut from the 'bottom' going upwards keeping PARALLEL to the longest (hypotenuse) side of the triangle going RIGHT TO LEFT. You are going to 3 slits about 3/4 the length of the paper.  The very end of each slit should line up evenly. 

 5. After you cut the slits, it should look like this.  If it doesn't, just make sure the fold in on the bottom closest to you, and the longest side is on the right.  

 6. Next, you are going to fold over the 'smallest' slit to meet each other and then tape so if forms a circular shape like pictured above. 

 7. Then turn over the paper and you are going to do the same thing with the next slit, so that the slits that are being taped are making an 'every other' pattern. 

8. This is what it will look like when you alternate each way and tape the slits together. 

 9. For this next one you will obviously need another piece of paper to attach to the other, so please repeat steps 1-8, and come right back here to hang out and continue. 

        ***You are then going to take the tip of each 'piece of the snowflake' and STAPLE them together like pictured. 

 10. After the tips are stapled, you are going to STAPLE the edges that meet so when the are all connected, they will stay securely together.  Refer to picture if this is a little confusing. 

11. You are going to continue making serveral of these pieces of the snowflake and then staple them together at the tip, and then where each edge meets. As you add more pieces of paper it gets a little more tricker to staple, so just watch out for your fingers!

This is the finished product! You did it! I punched a hole in the top, added some string and now they are the winter window decor for the windows.  A small side note- they also sell the kits to make these at Paper Source, and you just got the inside information from this nifty blog. Enjoy!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down Your Long Hair

Is that... is that hair gel? 

I have been growing my hair out for a while now in hopes that one day I will be able to donate it.  My hair grows very very slowly, it's thick, and has been it's natural color for many a years.  In the meantime I have needed to try to maintain this hair, and achieve perfect moisturizing so someone hopefully one day will be able to wear it.  I absolutely hate brushing my hair, and mainly because it's dry and that equals tangles.  Now, to help my hair balance out I only shampoo or condition it about once or twice a week with Tigi products, and for the other days I use a vinegar/water homemade mixture.  I was hesitant to do this at first, but with the guidance and experience of another I took the plunge and made my own mixture.  This was also one of the many things vinegar could be used for in the giant list I previously blogged about, and I always want to practice what I preach. 

I made my shampoo ratio which consisted of 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar to 1 cup of water, and I put it is a little squirt bottle that I purchased at Ikea for $.99.  When I use it I don't really put it on the roots of my hair, but the body I really let the mixture bask in it.  I also apply it to my already wet hair.  This has helped in general with the tangles, and I also started using a comb instead of a brush.  Brushes apparently break up the hair and really damage it, especially when used when the hair is wet.  Your welcome boys for that tid bit of information.  Combing it is also recommended when preparing to donate your hair.  Below are two sites for donating hair:


Pantene Beautiful Lengths
Wigs for Kids

I am hesitant to send it to the very popular organization called Locks of Love because they have been published for not always making good use of the hair, and/or making a profit on their donations. Here is an article explaining in further detail.

I hope that if you were considering donating your hair this has helped, and for the others who are male (although they can definitely donate too!) or if you just have absolutely no interest, it's knowledge to pass onto others.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Feliz Anno

Happy New Year to all, safe and happy wishes for the upcoming year!

The holidays have come and gone and I have been doing some reading, researching, experimenting, and received some new gadgets that I am excited about.  First and foremost being the worm compost (in terms of juicy info for this blog.) I didn't like throwing away all those carrot shaving, rotten cheese, avocado pits, etc. etc., and now they have some place to go other then the garbage. Among those items, you can also shred up newspaper, egg cartons, kleenex, and the list just goes on and on.  As of right now it has been assembled, but no bedding or food or worms have been added, so as the process goes along I will update for those of you who are interested.  This is what it looks like.

With my worm compost I was also given an "instructional" book to go along with it and I found some interesting information that was just about recycling in general.  Our current industrial society, overall, treats waste as it is something to be thrown away, to get rid of, or to simply dispose of.  This is where we need to change our thinking about the way we consider waste to simply be waste.  It needs to be something that can be used as a resource, and/or if there is some other purpose that is can be used, try to get it to that person or place to be put to good use.  The capital of Australia, Canberra,  is the world's first communities to establish the goal, 'No waste by 2010."  They worked their butts off to try to get there, and are still working at it today quite successfully.  Worm bins, or composts could contribute significantly to reducing the amount of waste that goes and sits in a landfills.  When food and paper products cannot be composted then we go to recycling. Some argue that this is then taking resources to actually do the physical recycling (energy, water), but the cost to build a recycling processing facility is much less then the capital investment required for an incinerator or landfill. Also, it takes about 6% of the energy to recycle an aluminum pop can then to produce an entire new one. 

A few recycling side notes- **When you are recycling glass jars with labels, you do not need to remove them because the paper burns away when the glass is re-melted.  Also, for plastic containers should be rinsed and lids removed.  Lids are made from a different type of plastic, and contaminate the lot when present.  You can check the lids and see if they have a triangle on it to be recycled, but otherwise just discard.  Metal lids can cause the recycling equipment to jam because of it size, but most plants/programs will accept them.  

A cool  Article Relating to this. 

Thanks for stopping by and starting off the new year reading the blog.

Happy Holidays

A VERY Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Merry Kwanzaa,


AND a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2012!

With All My Love,

Sarah

What Is The Deal With Plastic?

PLASTIC....WHAT'S the word on the street about this plastic-y stuff? What actual kind of plastic are things made with? What is the number on the bottom really mean? Is it BPA free?  What does BPA stand for?  The list just goes on and on..... I looked into it a little and here are some of my not so scientific findings.

BPA is an organic compound and it's true name is Bisphenol A. It's a chemical used to make some hard, clear, plastic products such as reusable bottles, and is in the resin that lines food and beverage cans along with many other things.  I found an article in the magazine Vegetarians Time, which I love because not only do they have great vegetarian recipes, but they also have really interesting articles like.....plastic and BPA exposure.  Manufacturers love to use BPA because it is tough, heat resistant, and can be produced in enormous quantities- more then 7 billion pounds annually. The article referenced a study published in Human Reproduction which found male workers in factories who were producing BPA products (@ a high exposure), had a higher incidence of sexual dysfunction, loss of sex drive and other sexual problems.  Whoa, that isn't good. While of course sexual dysfunction is not life threatening, researchers looked at it as a hormonal problems, perhaps something that could even lead to cancer.  This is also just one study, one set of conclusions, and I am sure there are many more out there, but I don't have the results for you, other then the one. What a great researcher!

Things that are recommended for the use of plastic (or canned) products- If you reheat food in the microwave, use a glass container.  Try to buy frozen over canned because even if your exposure to BPA is a very miniscule amount, it could be often enough depending on one's eating habits.  When buying plastic products, of course look to see if it is BPA free, which a lot of products available today are.  Check recycling labels on plastic (usually inside of the triangle on the bottom or side of the product). Products with 3 or 7 'may' contain BPA, unless specifically indicates that it is BPA free.

The trickiest part is they do not know exactly what levels of BPA are harmful. One water bottle is not going to do anything, but it being aware of the products and their ingredients.  The more you know.....

Thanks again!