I'm a Pinterest addict. I pin stuff all the time. And I rarely make, buy or do any of it, but I pin it. I have a board called "for Boy Wonder". I basically pin really cool stuff to make up for the fact I feel like a bad mom. Today I decided to actually do something from my board. The Water Blob.

I proceeded to find the pin, show my husband enthusiastically and wait for his moment of realization that it was awesome. In a less than impressed voice, he told me it wouldn't work. You couldn't tape wet things. Fine. Point made. I had showed him the pin where you used tape, not heat. I successfully located the heat sealed pin and he didn't have anything negative to say. Win #1.  

Wyatt and I went to True Value to pick up the necessary materials. $6.49 for a 9ft x 12ft 3 mil piece of plastic. I decided to use a hair straightener instead of an iron, mainly because I couldn't find my iron. I don't iron, so don't judge. It took me 3 years of living with my husband to find out we even owned an iron. Now was the moment of truth, it was either going to be epic failure or epic win. I'd let the 3 year old decide.

The Supplies: 

plastic sheeting (AT LEAST 3 mil thick - more on this later)

iron or hair straightener

optional ironing board if you don't have hard surface floors 

parchment paper (NOT freezer paper - more on this later too) 

12" Duct Tape

Total Investment: $6.49

 

I thought a hair straightener would be just as effective. There is even a pin about that somewhere too. The directions said to turn the iron to the highest setting. Since I didn't have an iron for reference, I decided to put my hair straightener on the highest setting too. 395 degrees.

I liked the idea of creating a "guide line" for where to place your heat source so that you had an even seal. Plus, this also fueled my need to be the best failure at being a perfectionist that I can be.

Here is a great time to point out that parchment paper is not freezer paper. Freezer paper is not re-positionable once the plastic gets melted. I resorted to wax paper, which worked, but required 3 different sheets instead of just one. 

The actual process is quite simple. It took me less than 30 mins to seal the 3 sides after I wrestled it into flat submission on our living room floor. I folded the wax paper in half and used the plate of my straightener as a guide to slide it across the plastic, not leaving it in one spot for too long. 

What it the plastic looks like after the heat has melted it together. Do this to all three sides leaving a small hole for the water hose so you can fill it. 

Time to fill it! 

We decided to add some red food coloring to ours. Once the blob was filled, it wasn't red, but it was fun to watch the color swirl and mix with the water. 

Once it was full, we taped the hole closed with the Duct Tape. It wasn't a permanent solution, but it was the easiest. 

We put our blob on a thick tarp. We have a recently reseeded lawn, so I was reluctant to put it on the new grass because of the weight. We opted for a small gravel place in the shade in our yard. As were were filling it, we quickly realized the weak points and were able to put some Duct Tape over them as a patch. 

It's safe to say it was a hit. Wyatt loved it. At first he just rolled around on it, and lounged on it. Then he discovered he could jump on it... and then he put a knee into it causing the plastic to stretch and become weak. It was eminent that failure was going to happen. He jumped on it, and jumped on it some more... he got a solid 30 minutes worth of rough play in before it started to leak. Once it began to leak and became slippery, it was a whole new set of fun. He was able to play on it for another 45 minutes or so before catastrophic failure occurred. 

My overall assessment of the project is a success. I wouldn't hesitate to make a water blob again with a few things in mind. 

1. Use at least 4 mil plastic sheeting. If you can preplan this activity, order some thicker 5 mil or 6 mil plastic from Amazon. I think it will make a world of difference. My 3 mil plastic sheeting held up okay unless Wyatt decided to start jumping on it, knees first. 

2. The failure came from where the sealed part met the unsealed part, the seam? I had melted the plastic all the way through in small, pin head size spots. Smart Hubby says it got too hot. So, I learned that 395 degrees might be a little excessive. I am going to do some tests next time to see what temperature is best. 

2. Make sure your blob is in a level place. It will roll, and it is very heavy. And have a plan for where the water is going to go when you poke a hole in it. There is alot of it. 

NO SOLICITING

Our front door has been posted NO SOLICITING as long as I can remember. Since we have had the baby, I have a rather large sign that also says, 'please do not ring the doorbell'. I think it really speaks to the literacy rate of New Mexico that on average, we get about 2 solicitors a week, and the postman consistently rings the doorbell. I am usually polite and courteous...until last Monday.

Background:
Wyatt is getting all 4 of his first molars, so he's a cranky, fussy all out PITA right now.

On Monday, we were napping on the couch (preceded by 2 hours of crying). We were both clearly exhausted. I woke up when I heard someone walking up our front path. Our front door was open, but our screen door was locked. Not expecting anyone, I transferred Wyatt to the other chair, just in time to catch a young man walk up to our door, throw a flyer on the ground, ring the doorbell and walk away.

SERIOUSLY?!

I about flew out of the door and gave this him a piece of my mind. I was FUMING mad. Of course, the doorbell caused Wyatt to wake up (crying), so this young man was spared, for now.

I immediately got on the phone to the company listed on the flyer. Conveniently, no one answered. I am quite persistent though, and reached someone today. I was polite, but firm, and expressed my concerns. She graciously said thank you for the feedback, and she would look into it.

SO, that got me thinking. I wanted a new sign. I also wanted to post our property NO TRESPASSING. After doing some research, I found that the State of New Mexico is quite particular in its signage requirements for it to be legally binding. I made a larger version of this that conforms to the State of New Mexico standards that includes NO TRESPASSING verbiage.

In case anyone makes it past the NO TRESPASSING signs, this little beauty is now our front door decoration.

I am happy to share this with anyone if they would like a copy. I took it to FedEx Office and had it laminated for around $4.

Cheers.

J

Moldy Caulk

For years, moldy caulk around our main bathrooms' tub has plagued me. I have scrubbed...and scrubbed, and scrubbed some more. I finally gave up hope. For the last few months, I have just ignored it. We were driving back from a short weekend trip last weekend, and I made up my mind, I was going to get it clean.

(insert cheesy Western music)

Pinterest to the rescue.

You can find my original re-pin here: Moldy Caulk Solution

Sounded simple enough. I went to Sally's and picked up a small box of beauty coil. I went with the reinforced one, mostly because it sounded beefier. 

Here is an overall picture of the gross-ness. (I swear my bathroom is clean).

Supply picture. Bleach (usually not allowed in our house, that's why it's dust covered), a small dish, gloves and beauty coil. Simple enough, right? Total investment $3.19. 

After putting on those sexy yellow gloves, I poured the bleach into the shallow bowl, soaked a long piece of beauty coil in the bleach, and pushed it firmly into place. 

(cue anxious waiting music)

Ok, so not the magically white result I was expecting after an overnight soak, but certainly better. Time for round 2 and 3.

I ended up soaking the whole thing another 24 hours. I figured it wasn't going to hurt anything, and I had already made progress. 

Ok, so its not perfect, but it's better. After scrubbing with an old toothbrush and some bleach in those hard to get spots. I am happy with the result.

I am going to call this project a success. It is certainly better than it was before, with really minimal effort. I am sure if I put a little more elbow grease behind it, I might get it pristine again, but for now, I am at least not embarrassed to have people take a shower in there. 

You also might notice the hard water stains that are now absent from the original pictures. That's another post and another miracle tool for another day.

I would also like to point out, I got this little project done with minimal fuss from my son. I put him in the jumper, and he jumped away while I did all of this. I think there should be bonus points involved for that small feat.

Cheers. 

Who I Am

I have decided to start a blog.

In a land full of blogs about everything you can imagine, why add another one?

One word: Pinterest.

Yes, pinterest. Pinterest is the mecca for all things creative. I have learned a fair amount from Pinterest. Crafts, recipes, cleaning tips, organizational tools; the list goes on an on.

So why blog about what so many people are already blogging about? Simple. Let me give you my credentials.

CREDENTIALS
1. I am a stay-at-home-mom of a 1 year old. That should be enough credential right there, but if its not, read on.

2. I am 65% organized. I am not that stay-at-home-mom who has a spotlessly clean house, plans and prepares meals a week in advance, and who manages to look simply ravishing on a daily basis. If you are THAT stay-at-home-mom, you probably aren't reading this anyway since you don't need to learn how to organize, clean and cook.

3. My husband plays hockey 2-3 nights per week. Why does that give me cred? Because that means 2-3 nights per week we are somewhere between the hockey rink and home. We are either eating as we walk out the door, eating in the car, or some form of eating in between. Couple in the fact that many nights, that's when I do my errands so I have an extra set of (adult) hands to help. We are going. CONSTANTLY.

4. My house is not spotless. See Credential Point 1.

5. I like to do crafty things. Sometimes I have grand ideas (thank you Pinterest), but I am NOT a craft goddess. Part of my motivation for writing this stems from having picked up a tip on Pinterest on how to clean my bathtub. I wondered if a normal, regular, every day person, was really capable of the achieving those same 'before' and 'after' pictures.

So hopefully, somewhere out there, there is someone like me. A mom who isn't perfect.