Dollar Store Floral Centerpieces

I'm getting married later this year and there are hundreds if not thousands of inexpensive centerpiece ideas floating around the internet.  Here's something I've come up with that can be made with items found at the dollar store.  I usually just go to the local Dollar Tree.  They're quick, easy and can be made for under $4.00 per centerpiece.

What you'll need:

• A round glass vase
• A bouquet of artificial flowers
• Clear Hair Gel
• A Mason Jar
• A round LED Light with an adhesive bottom
• Batteries for the LED light

For the first centerpiece, take the round glass vase and fill it about half way full with the hair gel.  Luckily this hair gel smelled like Swedish Fish so it didn't smell bad when left in an open container.  You should probably smell the gel before buying it to make sure it has a scent you like.  Next, slide one of the flowers and two of the leaves off their stems.  Place the leaves down in the gel wherever you think looks good.  I used the remaining stem of the flowers to press the leaves into the the gel a little bit so they'd stay put.  Once you have the leaves where you want them, put in the flower and position it how you want to.  Once again, I used the stem to push it into the gel a little bit so it wouldn't flop over...AND THAT'S IT.

I think this would be a great little centerpiece for you dining room table.

The mason jar centerpiece is very similar, but it has a LED light stuck under the lid to make it glow even when there isn't sunlight.  This is a 24oz wide mouth mason jar that I just had laying around the house, but the dollar store does sell mason jars as well.  When you buy a case of mason jars from the store, it does round out to be about $1.00/ jar.

So the concept is the same.  Fill the mason jar about half way full with clear hair gel and then strategically place your leaves and flower with a chopstick, a straw or the stem of the flowers.  Then take your LED light and put batteries in it, remove the paper from the adhesive back and stick the LED light to the inside of the lid of the mason jar.

Push down the light so that it's on and place the lid on top of the jar and screw it on.  That's all there is to it.  You can add other different sized jars to make a wedding centerpiece or just use one in the middle of a patio table for a barbecue.

They glow beautifully even when it's light out.

And when the lights are low, the light creates a beautiful pattern on the table.

Laundry Hack: Drying Bib Overalls without Cracking your Dryer

My fiance loves wearing bib overalls because they're filled with convenient pockets and when he bends over, people can't see his plumber's crack.  He works at an auto shop so his boss appreciates when he wears bibs too.  I'm all for them except for the buckles at the end of the shoulder straps fly around in the dryer banging into the walls of the drum. This isn't good for the dryer and I don't want to buy a new one once my fiance's bibs inevitably crack the drum.

My first thought was to snap the buckles into the front pockets by snapping through the large hole in the buckle that goes around the button BUT the buckles on my fiance's bibs only have a slit in them not a hole large enough to snap into.  I decided to just stick each strap into its corresponding front pocket and snap it in hopes that the straps would miraculously stay in.  I snapped the straps in and pulled on them when I realized that the buckle is too wide and can't come out of the pocket because it can't fit between the side of the pocket and the snap.

Problem solved.  Dryer saved.  The world is a better place.

Cooking Hack: How to avoid putting too much rub on your meat

So the title may sound silly if you have a dirty mind like me, but I'm a frequent user of McCormick's Grill Mates Sweet and Smokey Rub.  I put it on pork chops and chicken and it is delicious.

I found this problem when putting the rub onto these meats though: if you take the seal completely off and use your fingers to sprinkle the rub onto the meat, the rub sticks to your hands and if you accidentally touch the meat, you have to wash your hands to avoid contaminating the rest of the rub.  No matter how well you dry your hands, they'll still be moist (I hate the word) and even more of the rub will stick to your fingers.

The other option is to peel the seal off the top of the rub and try to gently shake the rub onto the meat.  Even if you just peel a little bit of the seal off, you still risk over pouring and having way too much of the rub on one area of the meat. *sigh*

Today, I came up with a clever way to evenly distribute the rub without having it stick to your fingers  USE A FORK TO POKE HOLES IN THE TOP OF THE SEAL AND THEN SHAKE THE RUB CONTAINER LIKE A SALT SHAKER.  Genius!

This really does work to get an even layer of the rub on your meat and leaves your hands clean.  It does make it a little difficult to shut the container, but in my opinion, it's totally worth it.

DIY Dry Shampoo

This Winter seemed like it would never end but now the first signs of Spring are finally here.  Not all of this winter was bad though, it's when I started making my own dry shampoo.

When it gets cold outside, I have to change my entire personal grooming routine because my skin gets so dry.  I have to moisturize my face twice a day, I have to switch from bar soap to body wash and I have to constantly put on body lotion to avoid getting eczema.  My scalp also gets very dry and itchy so I have to use an anti-dandruff shampoo. 

This winter, I went for Head and Shoulders Anti-Itch shampoo.  I wanted to get a separate shampoo and conditioner, but I went back to the aisle three weeks in a row and the store only had shampoo or 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner.  I decided that it was only for a few months and I'd tough it out using the 2-in-1 stuff.  This was a bad idea.  Even with the added conditioner and using a leave in conditioner, my hair was dried out and breaking.  I had to clean the hair out of my brush twice a week and it was all over my bathroom floor.  I bought some anti-dandruff repairing conditioner and it did help, but it was clear that I couldn't wash my hair all of the time this winter. After doing some research, I decided to only wash and condition my hair twice a week and use dry shampoo for the other 5 days.

Now, I had used the TRESemme spray in dry shampoo before and there were a couple of things I didn't like about it.

1. It felt like you had to use half an aerosol can in order for your hair to not feel greasy.
2. It therefore meant that you were spending about $1.50 per use.
3. It smelled like a baby prostitute.

I still use the TRESemme aerosol dry shampoo sometimes, but I was looking for a better way.

Through Pinterest, I had found a few dry shampoo recipes and some loose guidelines for what to use to make homemade dry shampoo.  This is what I do:

• Combine 2 parts baking soda, 2 parts UNSWEETENED cocoa powder (from the baking aisle) and 1 part corn starch (for brunettes).
• For blondes, use 1 part unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 parts corn starch in addition to the 2 parts baking soda
• Mix these three ingredients and then add a few drops of clear extract from the baking aisle
• Lemon extract, vanilla extract, almond extract -- whatever you like -- just make sure that there's no kind of sugar or syrup in it or your it will make your hair sticky
• You can also use a few drops of essential oils, but with the extracts, everything is non-toxic
• Mix everything together until the liquid is completely absorbed and then place in a storage container.
• I use mason jars for everything.

There are a couple of ways you can apply this dry shampoo.  You can use an old (thoroughly cleaned) spice shaker or parmesan cheese shaker to sprinkle the shampoo near, but not directly onto your roots.  The way I originally was applying the dry shampoo was by dipping a makeup brush into a little tub of the dry shampoo and then applying it to the hair near my roots.  Then I would, of course, brush it through so that it cleaned all of my hair.  This worked very well and made my hair smell like chocolate.

I figured that there had to be a better way and began the searching the internet for some kind of dry shampoo brush dispenser.  I found a couple of different brands of dry shampoo that came in a container that was a brush on top which was connected to a tube of powdered dry shampoo but I didn't see anything where you could put your own dry shampoo into it.  I even contemplated taking the pad and bristles out of a paddle brush, poking holes in the pad and pouring dry shampoo behind the pad before reattaching it -- anything to make the brush and the shampoo applicator one and the same.

I discussed this dilemma with a friend who also couldn't find anything on the internet matching what I wanted.  She did tell me that she found something similar to what I was looking for at Sally's Beauty Supply.  I went to Sally's and spoke with the sales associate and the only thing she knew of that matched my description was this:

This Roots Only Applicator is only $1.69 and it's used for applying hair dye as well as medicated shampoo and other items to your hair.  It has small holes at the top of the comb that release the dry shampoo and then you can easily comb it through. 

I've only used this applicator once so far.  I've found that you have to have a toothpick or a safety pin at hand because sometimes holes in the teeth of the comb get clogged with the shampoo.  Also, you have to let air into the bottle because you have to squeeze it to get the dry shampoo to come out.  Once you squeeze it, you can comb it through.  I'm not sure how I feel about this applicator or if I'll stick with it, but it is really convenient so I'll give it a whirl.