Women and shoes

Fake Tom's and the view from my office :)

I love shoes. I used to have more than a hundred pairs. None of them cost more than $25, but I loved them all. Over time, many of them have left my life. Some I wore out, some I outgrew, some of them... my pet rat Wesker chewed up. I miss that rat....

But as I have gained weight, my obsession for shoes has waned. I find a pair that I love, try them on... and look fat in them. Sometimes I buy them anyway, because they're shoes. I'm a bargain shopping kind of girl, though. I usually can't wrap my head around pricey name brands, especially for shoes that I'm just going to wear to work. I used to work in an outlet mall, so I did own several pairs from Nine West, Clarks, Nike, and other such places, but most of those shoes are no longer with me.

My shoes are mostly more practical now, and I have started to drift toward name-brands, particularly if I'm going to be doing anything in them (running, hiking, etc). My old running shoes are Ryka's and were a gift from my grandmother. They have served me pretty well, being lightweight and breathable, but it's getting close to time for them to retire. I've had my eyes on Vibram FiveFingers for the past four years or so, but with their $80 and up price tag, they were quite a bit out of my range.

I had planned to wait patiently until our house (read- singlewide) was paid off, but I had a stroke of luck today! We went to the skate shop to pick up a new board for my oldest as an early birthday present (more on that later) and I asked my hubby if we could step down to Running Outfitters just a few doors away. He begrudgingly agreed, and away we went. I originally went in to show him some of the shoes I had seen on the wall- all of which were way more than I wanted to pay, but I turned around to find.... a table full of 1/2 price Vibrams! I slipped on the SeeYa's:

 ... and I knew they had to be mine! It was like slipping on a second skin! I love them!! My husband grinned at me sheepishly and said, "You wanna get 'em?" Of course I want to get them!!!
Then he asks, "Since they're half off, you want to get another pair?" Can you guess what I did?

Yup. Just scored two pairs of Vibrams for the price of one ;) Still a bit more than I would usually pay for shoes, but you just don't see a sale like that all the time. I had to promise not to buy any more shoes... for the rest of the year.

*Gulp*... that's not going to be easy. I heard they have knock-off Tom's at 5 Below....

Laundry related pins

I'm terrible at laundry. It's one of my least favorite chores. I know that if I do one load a day, it won't pile up. I know that if I do one load a day, I won't have a load sitting in the washer getting smelly. I know this- but it's so much easier to be lazy! With that out of the way, I'll tell you about some of the pins I've tried that are laundry-related.

First on the docket, Homemade Laundry Soap. To be fair, I didn't originally get this from a pin. I discovered this years ago when you actually had to look for blogs and bookmark them. Remember those days? I decided to go over it because it's pretty popular, and it's definitely something I've tried. I've used the powder version and the liquid, and there are certainly pros and cons to each. The powder is easier to make, since you don't have to cook it, and it's ready to use right away. The liquid one I made had to set up overnight before you could do anything with it. Meh... not my favorite thing. They're both super cheap and a little goes a long way, but I have to admit, I missed the smell of Gain Laundry Detergent.

I love Gain. As a small child, I would get excited on those rare occasions when we got to use it on our clothes. In my adult life, I decided that Gain was what I wanted my clothes to smell like. I don't think they make a scent I don't like. I broke down one day (I had a coupon) and bought a box (I use the powder- the smell is stronger). In a house full of cats, dogs, and boys, the smell of clean laundry delights me. I decided to split the difference and mix my Gain with Borax and Washing Soda. I think it works out pretty well, actually. My clothes get clean, my Gain lasts longer (which is good, since it's expensive), and my clothes still smell like Gain!! So, I don't have a picture of the Fels-Naptha laundry soap with all it's lovely, flaky soap bits. Here is my own concoction:

Which pretty much just looks like regular detergent. It's equal parts Gain, 20 Mule Team Borax, and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. I use 1/4 cup, more if clothes are really dirty. There is no scientific basis for these measurements. They just seemed right and the clothes get clean, so there you go.
Also, I have tried making laundry soap with regular bar soap and I don't recommend it. Maybe others have had more luck, but I was not pleased with the outcome.

Recently I tried the Aluminum Foil Dryer Ball, and I must say... I was pretty pleased. It really couldn't be easier- toss a crumpled up ball of foil in your dryer to stop static. It doesn't soften your clothes, it just stops the static.

Well, most of the static. There may still be a little, particularly as you're pulling towels out of the dryer and they start rubbing together.

I am totally anti dryer sheet. Anything that comes between me and the smell of Gain detergent is a no-no. I realize that Gain makes dryer sheet- they don't smell the same. I also don't like the film they leave on clothes (they make your towels repel water- what kind of sense does that make?) and on the lint screen in your dryer.
If you use dryer sheets, take your lint screen out and run water over it. If the water goes through, you're golden. If it beads up top- congrats! You have a buildup of dryer sheet film. Just wash the screen with hot water and a little dish soap to remove it and you'll extend the life of your dryer. I'm sure all that information is on Pinterest somewhere, but since I don't use dryer sheets, I didn't pin it :)

See, clean as a whistle!

I've also tried vinegar as fabric softener. This is another one that I'm sure there's a pin for, but I didn't like it, so I didn't pin it. I put the vinegar in a Downy Ball and tossed it in the wash. I honestly couldn't tell a difference in the clothes, except they smelled faintly like vinegar- yuck! My clothes are plenty soft, thankyouverymuch.

I also tried this handy tip for organizing your t-shirts.

The hubby loves it. He can actually see what shirt he's getting, instead of unfurling it and finding it isn't the one he was looking for... and throwing it on the floor. He also doesn't have to dig through them to find them, so the drawer stays neat. That, my friends, is full of win :)

My favorite Ice Pack

I wish I had discovered Pinterest a few years ago. I'm not sure it existed back when we started our Viking Games, but the wonderful tip I'm going to show you today was certainly out there on the internet somewhere. To give you an idea of why this particular tip would have been so helpful to me, allow me to show you something:

 These are two of my very dear friends in a spontaneous contest of manliness brought on by a surge of testosterone. What, may you ask, brings these two perfectly sane dudes to throw down in a spray-painted circle? A contest we like to call Shield Bash (no pictures, sorry). I do have a picture of the shields following this year's game:

They were pristine when they went out there, now they're scratched and scarred. The guys didn't fare much better. Last year, we had a lot of busted faces, busted noses.... there was blood everywhere, even all over the shields. This year, the guys seemed to be a little more cautious, but we still had some bumps and bruises. Enter.... the best home-grown ice pack I have ever encountered:

It's just alcohol and water in a ziploc bag. the alcohol keeps the water from freezing solid, so you have a squishy, malleable, reusable ice pack for all those bumps and bruises brought on by Shield Bash or any other brutal game you play. In a house with two boys, this is sure to come in handy. I'm going to follow the blogger's advice and make a handy little sleeve to put these in, since they are very, VERY cold. I'll make sure to keep the freezer well stocked with these puppies!

This ain't my first rodeo

Glow Bubbles weren't my pin-speriment? Ex-pin-ament? Pinscaboddy-wob? Whatever. I've tried some stuff, and I'm going to share a few of them now:

First up, Crash Hot Potatoes

The recipe calls for red potatoes. I had white potatoes. Work with what you're given. They have a pretty similar texture, so they worked out pretty awesome. Very awesome. That steak was pretty fantastic too ;)
I drizzled Roasted Garlic Olive Oil from Tastefully Simple (thanks, mom!) on the pan and on the potatoes. I sprinkled the spuds with kosher salt, a little parsley, and some rosemary (dried). They were a little time consuming, since you have to boil them before you bake them, but totally worth it- especially since I'm  just cooking for myself the hubs this week. Crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside- sort of like a giant french fry. Totally recommend this one!

Up next, my nails

You're not likely to find this exact configuration of nail polish on my Style and Frippery board (yes, frippery), but you might notice a LOT of nail art pins. You see, dear readers, I am a biter. I have been biting my nails for as long as I can remember. I've always managed to keep my toenails painted and usually pretty (I have nice feet), but I've never paid much attention to my hands, since I'm always chewing on them. Well, one sweet day, I got a wild hair and decided to paint them. This nail style- which I chose to call "cloudy with a chance of sunshine" wasn't the first, but you can see that my nails aren't chewed off nubs. Keeping them cutely painted and having people comment on them has helped me stop biting them! Pinterest is improving my quality of life!! About this nail style- all my nails are painted with Pure Ice's Kiss Me Here (gray) and sealed with NYC's Matte Me Crazy mattifying top coat EXCEPT my ring finger on my left hand (kind symbolic), which is painted with Sally Hansen's Mellow Yellow, sprinkled with some glitter I found in the nail section at Dollar Tree (sweet!) and finished off with the Sally Hansen No Chip top coat.

And lastly, cupcakes!

Really, it's the frosting. I just used the basic American Buttercream frosting from the pin (which seems pretty idiot proof- I mean... I made it...) and used it to make a chocolate buttercream and root beer buttercream. The root beer float cupcakes have crunched up root beer candy bits on top and drinking straws sticking out of them. If you can't find the chocolate buttercream... I feel sorry for you. the ones with the cherry on top are cherry cola cupcakes with marshmallow buttercream. There's a pin for it here, but I didn't actually use that recipe. It's a little different than the one I've been using for years, which is an adaptation of this recipe. These were for my little one's birthday a while back, and they were a BIG hit. I didn't have many left over after it was all said and done, so I think it went well!

Wow, that post ran LONG!! I guess I had a lot of catching up to do!

Happy pinning!

(PS, I love parenthesis)

Glow Bubbles

I love Pinterest. I spend a lot of my time there. And I know I'm not the only one, so don't judge....

I've tried out a few pins here and there, some of them worked better than others. This is one of the failures:

Glow Bubbles

I pinned glow bubbles on a late night pinning binge- didn't read the fine print- and there were no comments to warn me that anything was going to go wrong. I don't usually have bubbles (my kids aren't that into them), but I have some little nieces that I thought might enjoy this, so I decided to give it a go. I didn't read the blog. Always read the blog. He (the original blogger) used the Glow Fusion glowing bubble solution- the caption at the bottom of the image I pinned said to used glow sticks. So, I sliced open a glow stick... You cannot simply slice open a glow stick and make glowing bubbles. You can make your kitchen floor glow, you can make your counter top, sink, pants, and hands glow... but not your bubbles. I don't know if I used too much glow solution or what, but I barely even got regular bubbles. They kept popping on the wand. When I went to pour the offending solution out on the back steps, I got a beautiful constellation of gloop: