unOriginal Mom An average mom trying out the best ideas of blog-world

Original Fridays #9

By Meredith | May 24, 2013 - 4:21 pm | Original Fridays

Comments Off

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I am currently soaking up the sun on our last day of vacation at the beach in Palm Coast, FL :-) It has been a beautiful week, and I will be sad to leave tomorrow!

Needless to say, I haven’t been on the computer much this week…and haven’t been doing my usual weekly routine of posting on and browsing around link parties…so my Original Friday finds today are just from some Pinterest browsing. And, since it’s Friday of Memorial Day weekend, I thought I’d share with you some quick and easy patriotic touches you could add to a Memorial Day get-together!

(Or, if you’re like me, you can file these ideas away for 4th of July, since there’s no way I’ll be getting much done for Memorial Day!)

Add a fun and flavorful touch to your Memorial Day cook-out with some red, white, and blue ice cubes – just throw some berries and water into ice cube trays! (unknown source via Pinterest)

How neat is this flag cake? It would be such a fun surprise for cut into in front of your cook-out guests! Read more and find the tutorial here, at Exclusively Weddings.

This patriotic clothespin wreath looks like a pretty simple project, using some red, white, and blue spray paint! (I bet this would be easily customizable for various seasons…just make a different set of clothespins for each different wreath, and use the same base, and swap out the clothespins when you want…) Find the tutorial here, at Cat’s Craft Room.

Happy Memorial Day, all! I hope you have a wonderful long weekend!

Use a Dish Wand to Clean Your Shower

By Meredith | May 22, 2013 - 8:00 am | Household Tips & Cleaning Tricks, Pinterest Reviews, Winner

4 Comments

It actually WORKS!

Having pinned this LONG ago, I’ve been meaning to try it for quite a while. My least favorite household chore is cleaning the bathroom…and of that, my most dreaded task is scrubbing the shower. Needless to say, it doesn’t get done as much as it should! So the idea of being able to clean the shower while I’m already in it taking a shower really appealed to me. (Not to mention, a good excuse to stay in the shower a bit longer!) But…is it too good to be true?

Following the instructions from Joyful Homemaking, I decided to finally give it a try. I bought a dish wand with a scrubby (not just a plain sponge), and filled it with equal parts dawn dish soap and vinegar, and used it the next time I was in the shower. It actually worked! (And it didn’t really smell vinegar-y, which I was a little worried about.)

A couple of caveats: if you don’t have a detachable shower head that you can aim wherever you want, you’ll probably need a cup or another sponge to help rinse what the shower can’t reach. Also, the dish wand doesn’t get into nooks and crannies around the faucets, so you’ll still have to do that separately. Other than that, it works great – I just keep it in the shower and use it about once a week…and now I always have a clean shower!

Check out other winning ideas and Pinterest reviews at the Winner’s Circle!

Best Baby Shower Gift Ever!

By Meredith | May 20, 2013 - 8:00 am | Baby

5 Comments

One of my favorite gifts I received at my baby shower wasn’t on my registry. It wasn’t adorable, or baby-sized, or cute and cuddly, or even something you’d find in the baby section of a store. It was a folder. And it was the best baby shower gift ever!

A folder with a place for every piece of paper that had been accumulating on my desk related to a baby that hadn’t even been born yet…and with places for very important pieces of paper we’d be recieving in those exhausting hours, days, and sleep-deprived weeks following the birth of our little one. For someone like me that loves organization but isn’t very good at implementing or maintaining it even on my best days, this was a perfect gift. It was a wonderful way to ensure that all those pieces of paper had a home without even having to think about it…and in a small but significant way, it helped to bring my stress level down before and after our baby was born, knowing where to put and where to find all those very important pieces of paper (and there are so many!)

I have now put together two of these folders to gift to friends and plan to make one for every baby shower I ever attend! All you need it: 12 pretty file folders (I found them at Staples and at Target for about $8-10) and an accordion file with 12 pockets (Walmart or Target for $5-8). You could also put the file folders in a small hanging file box (they had some really cute ones at Target and I was tempted)…but I found it really helpful to have the folder to be easily portable in those first weeks, to take to the hospital and to doctor’s appointments. I’ve now transferred a lot of the folders to our filing cabinet.

If you want to print labels to put on the folders instead of handwriting them, make sure you buy ones that come with labels or purchase the labels separately. (The folders I got from Target actually came with labels to print on – the ones from Staples did not.) Since labels are ridiculously expensive (and an entire package would be much more than you need), you could use a label maker instead, or print on any size labels you have and trim them to fit the file folders.

(The accordion file & file folders above are from Target)

(The accordion file above is from Walmart, and the file folders are from Staples)

Decide what you want to label your folders. Here are the 12 categories I used:

Birth Certificate & Social Security Card
Keepsakes
Milestones
Pediatrician Visits
Immunization Records
Other Health Records
Insurance Paperwork
Nursing/Feeding Info
Parenting Articles/Pamphlets
Receipts/Warranties
Manuals
Miscellaneous

Assemble your folder, and you’re good to go!

Expecting a baby, or know someone that is? You might like my Baby Checklist series – 5 comprehensive checklists to prepare for baby, including a nursery tour & checklist, hospital bag checklist, and more.

I hope this idea will help you bless a new-mom-to-be!

Take a peek at these great link parties where you might find this post linked up!
Also at Homestories A to Z

Original Fridays #8

By Meredith | May 17, 2013 - 8:00 am | Uncategorized

2 Comments

Gooooood morning and happy Friday to you!

I am especially happy this Friday…we are leaving today for the beach! Woohoo! It will be my 10 month old daughter’s first vacation…first trip to the beach…and first car ride over two hours…she can handle a 16 hour car ride, right? :-/ Regardless, by Saturday evening we will be settled into our condo, relaxing on the balcony, and listening to the waves. Ahhhh.

I have posts scheduled for next week and will have internet access on vacation…but I definitely won’t be around as much as usual. I will catch up on comments and things when we get back, I promise!

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE strawberry season. Strawberries are always on sale somewhere, and they’re even more delicious than usual – who doesn’t love a big, ripe, juicy strawberry? Lots of strawberry recipes have been popping up in blog world lately (including my Strawberry Spinach Salad!), so I decided to feature a few of them today!

First of all, check out this amazingly thorough round-up post of strawberry recipes from day2day SuperMom! She also includes some strawberry growing tips!

Here is a deliciously fluffy looking Strawberry Cream Pie from Crystelle Boutique.

Take a look at this twist on the regular strawberry smoothie, a Strawberry Julius from Busy Mom’s Helper.

If you were featured, grab a button from the sidebar!

Happy Strawberry Season!! And have a great weekend :-)

Strawberry Spinach Salad

By Meredith | May 15, 2013 - 7:55 am | Recipes, Winner

9 Comments

This salad is seriously delicious.

It is so simple…strawberries, spinach, and almonds with a sweet and tangy balsamic poppy seed dressing. Adjust the amount of sugar in your dressing to taste – I like it very sweet!

Especially this time of year, when strawberries are in season, it’s not an expensive salad to make, either! It’s great to take to potlucks or dinner parties. You’ll always come home with an empty bowl!

Make the dressing ahead of time. I put it all together in the food processor to chop up the onions really finely. I am NOT a fan of raw onions…but I LOVE this dressing! Definitely don’t omit the onions. Also, don’t dress the salad until right before you’re ready to serve it, so the spinach doesn’t get soggy and wilted.

Extra dressing can be kept in the fridge – it keeps well!

I love to make the dressing ahead of time, keep the ingredients in the fridge separately, and toss them all together in a single serving for a quick and yummy lunch.

Be creative with the toppings. You could use crumbled walnuts in place of almonds, add some feta or gorganzola cheese…whatever you like!

This recipe is adapted from the AllRecipes.com recipe here.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Serving Size: 4-6 large servings

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients

2 T sesame seeds

1 T poppy seeds

1/4-1/2 c. sugar (to taste)

1/2 c. olive oil

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1/4 t Worcestershire sauce

1/2 small onion

10 oz. fresh baby spinach

1 qt strawberries - hulled & sliced

1/4 c. sliced or slivered almonds

Instructions

Combine olive oil, vinegar, onion, and Worcestershire sauce in blender or food processor. Combine until onion is minced and dressing is well mixed.
Whisk in the sesame and poppy seeds.
Cover and chill for at least 1 hr or until ready to serve.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries, and almonds.
Pour dressing over the salad and toss.
Serve immediately.

http://www.unoriginalmom.com/strawberry-spinach-salad/