Pin 19–baby powder to stop creaking wood floors

Anyone with wood floors knows how annoying a creaky spot can be, but if you have a baby and creaky woods floors it becomes outright infuriating.  The loudest parts are always right outside the baby’s room for sure, and the stairs are always the worst, at least at my house anyways.  THIS PIN, which I’ve seen several variations of, says that getting a little baby powder in the grooves stops the noise.  My supportive but super cynical husband was beyond skeptical of this one right of the bat.

So…  I sprinkled baby powder right over the largest grooves (I have old floors so there are some rather large grooves here and there) and used a broom to push it into the groove and then smeared it all over the surrounding area.

 

I did this on the floor space near the bedrooms and I tried it on all the stairs as well.  For the stairs, since there is not a groove down the center I tried to get it in good in the back and side grooves.  Once the powder was all smeared around I walked around on it thinking that maybe it might help push some of the powder where it needed to go.  Then it sat for a bit while I gave my son lunch.  I cleaned it up using wet paper towels.

After all was said and done I took a stroll around my stairs and floor.  Not the slightest bit of change.  Still obnoxious, still squeaky and still loud right outside my son’s room.  Crap.

Even a week later, nada.

Bottom line – don’t bother

You’re just going to make a mess to clean up afterwards without any apparent benefit.  The husband said that even if there was a chance of this working our floors are well passed this point.  So maybe if your floors are newer than ours (not hard to do) it might work.  Maybe.  But I’m not betting on it.  The only positive thing I can say is that it smelled good, at least it does to me.  Clean baby smell.  But don’t do all this just for the smell!  You can just take a wiff right from the bottle :)

‘til next time,

Stephanie

Pin 18– baby oil to make your razor last longer

Like most women, or adults I suppose, I use a razor with replaceable blade cartridges that cost a small fortune. I’ve tried downgrading to various disposable brands and haven’t found any that feel as nice so I just suck it up. But when I saw this pin claiming to make these beauties last longer I was all over it.

So I poured a whole lot of baby oil on my razor when I started with a new blade. I tried shaving one leg with my regular shaving gel and the other with just the baby oil. I’m sorry to say that I will not be able to tell you whether or not this actually makes the blade last longer because I hated it so much. It felt like I was using a old razor, or at least a cheap one both ways. I was so pissed about it for 3 reasons. First, can’t follow through on the true busting of the pin since it felt so crappy. Second, It felt so crappy. and third, I wasted the brand new razor feeling!! The next time I used my razor, sans baby oil, it felt way older than it is and now I’m stuck with it for a bit because it was my last one in the pack and I’m just not ready to shell out my coveted dollars for new ones just yet.

Bottom line – waste of my time and a new razor :(

Maybe you won’t notice the difference. Or if you do notice maybe you won’t care and will find out if it actually lasts longer contrary to how it feels. I wish you luck either way and will say a little prayer you don’t end up with in grown hairs or razor burn :) But definitely come back to let us know if you’re tougher than me!

My apologies for not coming through on this one but I guess when it comes down to it I’m a bit of a wuss here…

‘til next time

Stephanie

Pin 17 sugar hand scrub

Hello again!  It’s been a little while since I’ve posted and I have good reasons why… mostly technical difficulties but I won’t bore you with details.  The good news is that I’m back so let’s get rockin’.

I’ve been struggling with super dry hands this winter…. 

and was thrilled when I came across this pin that promised an end result like Mary Kay Satin Hands.  I have used that product in the past and loved it so I knew what to compare to.  When you actually follow the link the original blogger Jille does not make this comparison at all, she actually calls it a gardener’s scrub.  Either way, the mix is approximately equal parts sugar and Dawn with Olay Hand Renewal dish soap but adjusting as needed to make it a thinner paste  as opposed to a liquid soap or complete paste consistency.

I didn’t want to make a big tub of it in case I wasn’t thrilled so I basically poured a little puddle of soap into a small dish then added sugar until it seemed right. 

I wet my hands a bit and scrubbed away.  Seriously I didn’t want to cut it short so I must have spent 5 minutes meticulously scrubbing my hands, especially my knuckles, lower side thumb area and cuticles.  Once satisfied I rinsed well, dried and put on my fav hand lotion (OPI AVOjuice in case you are curious – it’s fab).  I don’t know where I learned it but I’m pretty sure you should always moisturize after exfoliating.  Anyways, immediately following the lotion my hands felt great, soft and smooth and seemingly with less dry flaking skin hanging around.  And they smelled great – from both the soap and my lotion.  Success!

Or at least I thought so.  Less than 15 minutes later I needed more hand lotion and noticed the same areas with dry flaky skin coming back, improved but still there.  BOOOOO.

Bottom Line – better as a gardener’s scrub

Had my hands been filthy from gardening or cleaning out the basement (random you might think but we just accomplished this woohoo!) this would’ve been a great improvement from regular hand soap and an awesome alternative to the “MAN” hands cleaning products that leave your hands smelling super weird for the rest of the day.  But is this combo worthy of comparison to the Satin Hands line?  I don’t think so at all.  Original blogger, score for great cleaning method, some random pinner along the way just sensationalized a bit too much!!

Stay clean my friends :)

Stephanie

New year, new posts!

Happy New Year!  New post coming 1/8/13!!  Can't wait to get this train rolling again!

Stephanie

Hello there!

So for anyone that is actually checking this thing at all and has noticed I haven’t updated lately, I’m sorry.  Things have been crazy in this corner of the world and it’s kept me from posting anything interesting!  The good news is things have calmed down and I’m getting myself organized to start posting away and I’ve got some good ones lined up.  Hopefully I will have my act together soon and we can get back on track!

Stephanie

Pin #16 Condensed milk caramel

I’ve seen this pin a lot.  I always read it and sort of dismissed it because it seemed too simple, too easy.  Supposedly all you need for delicious caramel is a can of condensed milk.  Mmmmm warm caramel.  One of my favorite things to put on my ice cream! So you submerge the whole can in water in the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.  It took me a while to do this one because it requires thinking ahead, at least 8 hours ahead, which is not my strong suit.  Finally I did remember and so here are my thoughts. 

First, right on the label it says to not heat the can.  Hmmm, pourquoi?  It gives no reasons.  Without some symbols for radiation or poison I thought I’d take my chances.  Nothing exciting happened, good or bad.  It just looked like a can in hot water.  For 8 hours.  By the end it did look a little suspect, with what looked like either leaking caramel or rust on the can.  It took me a few minutes to determine how to take it out of the crockpot.  Super hot water and super hot can….  tongs? Nope.  Hands?  absolutely not.  Slotted spoon? Winner!  Definitely the best option.  After getting the slippery sucker out I put it in a bowl to cool, and honestly, forgot about it for at least an hour.  At dessert time I had an epiphany and ran to get some ice cream with caramel sauce. 

Just opening the can the caramel started oozing out looking fabulous.  It’s a bit thicker than the store bought stuff and lighter in color.  Honestly a little less appetizing to me.  So I scooped some out, drizzled on the ice cream and took a bite.  Yum.  Is it the best I’ve ever had?  Nope, not really a contest.  But it is good.  And it’s easy and cheap!  A can of condensed milk will run you maybe $1-1.50.  And it’s unattended cooking which is easy. (:

Bottom line – great short cut

Not the most impressive caramel sauce ever, but still tasty.  It’s a super short cut that’s cheap and easy, as long as you can think at least 8 hours ahead.  I’m also wondering how long it will keep.  I imagine in a sealed container in the fridge it would last long enough.  Long enough to eat all of it that is.

Stephanie

7 Things about me

Wooo Hoooo!  Hi everyone!  I have lost track of time and gotten off track with my pins but I’m posting for a different reason today.  The lovely lady Sarah over at Our Next Great Adventure has nominated me, or Pin Busting, for a “7 Things About Me” award!  As a nominee, I must, yes you guessed it, share 7 things about me.  (:

Check out Sarah’s great blog about her day-to-day musings and DIYs and recipes….  she really is a jack of all trades!  I mean this pic alone gives you an idea of all her fabulous posts!  So I now have to share 7 things about me….

1.  I have an insane sweet tooth.  Sometimes I want to literally scoop out a spoonful of sugar but usually settle for a spoonful of Fluff which seems to be more socially acceptable.

2.  I have a strong lazy streak that must not be indulged.  If I manage to keep it curbed I’m good, but the second I indulge it it’s like a bad addiction.  I imagine it’s what people who give up carbs go through.  It’s also why I am so excited to never scrub my tub again!

3.  I have seen Back to the Future so many times I can nearly recite the entire thing.  It’s one of the best movies ever.

4.  When my sister was born, my parents had to pretend around me that her name was Gabrielle because that was the name I chose and they had planned on until my brother suggested Jennifer instead.  Stupid brothers right?

5.  My husband was my first crush.  In second grade.  We chased each other on the playground and everything. 

6.  When I was younger and people asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I would answer all kinds of things but really the only thing I ever really WANTED to be when I grew up was a mom.  I think it’s because my mom is so incredible, and she made it look so easy!

7.  I have a thing for linens and dishes.  It’s almost impossible for me to turn them down at yard sales, or at the very least pet them all wishing I could either afford or find someplace to store them.

So that’s 7 things about me… now check out my 7 nominations! 

Tales of Expansion

Blissful and Domestic

A Beautiful Mess

Her New leaf

hip 2 thrift

coffee, light & sweet

Full of Great Ideas

So the rules for the nominated are these : 1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. 2. Tell everyone seven things about yourself. 3. Choose 7 other blogs that you think deserve the award, and post on their blog to let them know they’ve been nominated.

So that’s it for today and hopefully tomorrow I’m back on track for busting some pins!  Thanks again to Our Next Great Adventure for the nomination!! So thrilled to be nominated for anything! 

Stephanie