Pinned It, Did It: Cleanin' and Cookin' and Craftin'

In this episode of Pinned It, Did It, I tried some cleaning things I have posted, some crock pot meals I've seen and a couple of crafts.

Let's start with cleaning. I love to clean my house. Really. There is nothing so satisfying as a fresh smelling, clutter free house. As I've mentioned before, behind closet doors lies the ugly underbelly of a hoarder's house, but nothing makes me happier than a completely, front to back, clean house. I have been very excited about the different cleaning things I've seen on Pinterest. It combines my need to clean with the pleasure of saving some cash. The first thing I tried was the tub cleaner.

It worked ok, but I'm not too fond on the vibrant blue that it turns everything. You've really got to wipe to get it out from between the tiles. It did an ok job in the tub, but I think I'm going to try the bleach cleaner I recently saw when this runs out. The smell was a turn off. I like the smell of vinegar and have always used vinegar and water to clean my glass. Mixed with the Dawn, though, it had a wonky smell that didn't scream "I just cleaned this bathroom!". We all know that when you work hard to clean a bathroom, you want the world to know it.

Speaking of smells, I also tried the Febreze knockoff. I was much happier with this. Using vodka as an odor remover may not sound cost effective, but I already had some on hand (long story about a train wreck and a truck hauling liquor) and I don't drink it so I thought I might as well us it for this. I also had some eucalyptus oil for the fragrance. It's not cheap either, but I already had that, too, and you only need a few drops. That made this FREE. Yea! I liked the smell and it did a great job taking out the stinky dog smell left by an incontinent boxer on a (red wool!) rug.

Next up, crock pot meals. A friend was not feeling well and I wanted to do a dinner for her. Since I wasn't sure what day she would need it most and I only had a small window in which to cook, I decided to do a frozen crock pot meal. Heck, while I'm at it, do 2 or 3. And why not do some for myself? In the end, I froze 7 meals for her and 3 for us. Great decision. It took care of a whole week of food for us and gave her the option of cooking a fresh meal whenever she needed it. I'll definitely do this again.

some of the crock pot ingredients

I had seen this pinned several months ago and decided I needed one when an opportunity to go the New York popped up. I don't like hats because it's hard to find one to fit my not so petite noggin. You know how I feel about felt flowers and I already had a sweater felted and ready to go. I cut it free hand and and stitched it by hand.

When I finished, I liked it ok, but something was missing.

all orange flowers...yawn

I added a few gray felt flowers and liked it a lot better. You can see it in action when I post the pics from NY.

Next, the sweater bag. I wanted a new bag for the trip, too. Still had tons of sweaters left, so I made the bag with one. I was a little worried about it being substantial enough to carry all my stuff, so I lined it with a t-shirt. Look familiar? I made a pocket using the neckline so I wouldn't have to hem it and attached it to the lining.

It worked great for the trip. I really like the way it turned out and am thinking about making some more.