These kids melt my heart

I can’t believe how many crayons get broken in our classroom. It’s rediculas. Do they just not make crayons that last? Well for Earth Day (happy Earth Day by the way) we made little melted Earths for the class. I love recycleable gifts! Plus, it didn’t cost anything. Can’t beat that!

So I took my old crockpot, lined the bottom with foil cupcake liners (I was afraid to use the normal ones…I wanted to be safe), and put some broken green and blue crayons in the liner. I tuned the crockpot to HIGH and left them in there for 20 minutes.

We have 22 kids and I wanted to make sure that we had enough for all of them so they look a little like saucers!

Then we put a little tape on the back of them and made them like certificates. They got them on Friday!

I honestly didn’t think it would be that easy, but it was! Have you ever melted crayons? What did you make? I want to know these things!

Have a nice rest of your weekend!

xxoo

Tasha

Earth Day Flowers

So with Earth Day coming up on Sunday (and Record Store Day on Saturday), my class made flowers out of recycled material.

Look at all the pretty flowers! Some of the kids got really creative with it which is always a positive. This is why I love art  

We used old name tags, scrap construction paper, lunchable boxes, and bottle caps (which I have been saving for game but this seemed to work out well too). I cut them into different shapes and then let the kids have at it. I love how some of them layered the dots on top of one another! 

We did litter bugs last year but the trash didn’t seem to stick as well. These flowers look great on the large wall outside of our classroom!

What do you have planned for Earth Day?

xxoo

Tashha

Making my laundry soap!

So we finally ran out of laundry soap and I decided to make my own. After seeing so many people swearing by this stuff on Pinterest, I thought I would give it a go.

Now, many different people have their own recipe. This is the one that I used and seems pretty good. If you have something better, that’s awesome. I like this one because it’s easy for me to remember.

*wow*

What you need:

• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha Soap (I got mine at Walmart for like $1)
• 1 cup of Borax (got it at Walmart for $3.99)
• 1 cup of Washing Soda (got it at Walmart for $3.49. This is washing soda and not baking soda.)
• 1 cup of water
• At LEAST one container for your finished product to go in (I used an old laundry detergent container…if you have more containers, the better!)

Grate your Fels-Naptha Soap into a saucepan. GRATE IT. I tried to chop it up because my grater was at school and my finished product seems to have more chunks (they didn’t break down as well). Grate the whole bar of soap. Add the cup of water and cook on medium for about 30 minutes (or until the soap is dissolved and not chunky). Just keep stirring!

Then add one cup of Borax and one cup of Washing Soda. Just keep stirring until everything is mixed up well and it turns really thick like grits

Since I only had one containter, I put about 1/3 of this in my blue containter and the rest I poured in a glass jar for my next batch of soap. This is the concentrate. This stuff is pretty thick already so a funnel may be the easiest way to get it in your bottle.

The 1/3 amount from my blue containter, I added hot water about 1/2 up the bottle. Then I shook it! Just shake it until everything seems to be mixed up. Then…well, I left it overnight. Yep, I just left it alone (What?! Your leaving it alone? Are you done? Are you sure?! AHHHHH). For real. Just leave it alone. Chill out.

The next morning I noticed how thick this stuff got. So I added hot water pretty much to the top and started shaking it again. Shake shake shake! Everything should be pretty well mixed up.

And that’s it. You have your laundry detergent, folks. It really is that easy. I don’t use a scent but you could always add a few drops of lemongrass oil or peppermint oil to your batch in the last stage.

Oh, what am I going to do with the stuff in the jar? Well, once I used up the stuff in the blue bottle, I’m going to take about half of that goop and add it to 1/2 the container of hot water. Shake it like a mad woman. Let it sit overnight. Add the rest of the water. Shake like a mad woman again. Bam!

And who would of thought that this would of been so easy? No me. I should of been doing this YEARS ago!

Good luck and happy washing!

xxoo

Tasha

Doggie Treats

I will never call myself a baker. Ever. I like to cook because I can be “Willy Nilly”. Add a little of this, a dash of that. I like the whole “I’m just going to throw a bunch a crap together and see what I can come up with” aspect of cooking. Baking? You can’t do that. You need to be precise and exact (as least more so than cooking). So when I decided to try making doggie treats for the first time, I knew I was going to be afraid. I knew I had to be exact. Needless to say, they didn’t turn out how I wanted them to. But really, this resipe is so easy, I think trying it a few more tries will get it just right. (But really, who the hell cares? It’s for my dog. Do you think she cares? No me.)

What you need:

-2 cups flax seed (ground)

-1/2 cup water

-1 tablespoon peanut butter

-1 very over ripe banana

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix everything together (mix the banana in well or you will have chunks. Unless you want chunks like I did). Roll into balls or into a mold (my mold was a star and was way too big and thick. Put them on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes.

Ta Da!

Of course Betty gobbled them up but she isn’t picky. I think I’m going to make them smaller next time because they didn’t seem to cook as well as I was hoping. Maybe I just wasn’t patient and needed to let them sit in the oven just a wee bit longer. Oh well. Like I said, I think they just need a bit more tweeking and they will be pretty darn tasty.

xxoo

Tasha

Easter Wreaths!

I found this pin on Pintrest and I couldn’t believe how easy it is! This week is Spring Break for our public schools so most of our kids are out (averaging about 13 kids in our class). So this project was great for this amount of 4 year olds.

What you need:

- Lots of paint swatches (you can get them for FREE at Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart)

- paper plates (we used small plates)

-scissors

-glue

-ribbon (optional)

Cut your paint swatches into oval/egg shapes. Use lots of different colors. We liked the ones that have 3 or 4 different colors on the one strip. We also made polka dots to put on them!

Then cut out the middle of your plate to make an O shape.

Have the kiddies glue the eggs and polka dots to their “wreath”.

When they dry, glue ribbon to the top to make a hook (like I said, this is optional. If your fancy and already have a wreath hook, you wouldn’t need this).

Bam!

We made our very own wreaths. I thought they looked super cute (although these don’t have the ribbon on them).

And lookie, I even made one for our door with a big pink plate.

Boy, I love cheap projects!

Until the next project,

xxoo

Tasha

Spring Garden 2012

Spring has sprung! Can you believe it?! I’m so excited to be sharing the few things that grew this winter. Plus, my compost! I’ve been putting everything in that damn thing. And the dirt looks rich and healthy. I’m so glad I started it last year so I could get all the benifits out of it this spring.

A few weeks ago, I planted radishes and carrots from seeds in my purple pot (first time planting either of those) and I put a cut onion in the bottom (although I don’t think anything will happen to it…*crossing fingers*). I also planted some sweet basil from seeds and oragano. So far, this is what I have…

I have radishes!

That’s about it. I looked at them the other day and I found a few carrot tops trying to poke through. Now, this pot ONLY had compost in it from the very bottom of my container. When I noticed the carrots, I put some dirt on top of them and gave them a good watering. And just think, because we have had some 80 degree days, all of my plants are outside! They are doing pretty well (I can’t complain!). Oh, and here is a shot of my lettuce and spinach from this winter. It’s still rocking and rolling!

Still growing!

I can’t believe my lettuce and spinach did as well as it did. All I did was put some compost in the box and spread some seeds out and left it. I didn’t do anything additional. Can’t beat that!

Are you growing anything? Any additional tips or tricks? I cant’ use all the help I can get!

xxoo

Tasha

Have you met our new friend?

At the beginning of the month, I read this article on Offbeat Home. Immediately, I fell in love with the idea of carnivorous plants (you mean, my plants can eat bugs? That’s hella cool!). I mean, I’ve heard of carnivorious plants (Feed me, Seymore! Feed me!…Don’t know the movie?). But I never really thought about owning one myself!

Well, I read this article while traveling to PA (to see the Pittsburgh Penguins, at that!). Well, while there, we went to Lowe’s with R’s parents. And there he was. Just waiting to go home with us.

Meet Jim!

I found my very own Venus Flytrap! I don’t know how, but I found my very own. Who would of thunk it?

Now that it’s a little warmer, our little friend Jim is outside. I put him to work! He’s sitting on top of the chair where the compost sits. He is getting plenty of food! Tonight, I went to go put some things in the compost and I found all of Jim’s mouths closed. Let’s see how big he can get!

Have you even had a carnivorous plant? Any tricks or tips I need to know?

xxoo

Tasha