HomeMade Stain Remover

I call it Home made Shout.  You can call it whatever you want.  The stuff works (for me) and you use items that you have around the house.   I took this recipe from here.

What you need:

2/3 cup Palmolive (or Dawn) dishwashing soap
2/3 cup ammonia
6 Tablespoons of Baking Soda
4 cups warm water

ok, for a cloudy day, it sure looks sunny in these pictures!

Measure out your ingredients

place in bowl and mix

Make sure you mix well.  You want to make sure that the baking soda is not just one big clump

The original recipe calls for 2 cups of warm water.  This was TOO thick.  I wasn't happy with it so I added 2 more cups of water.  You can try with just 2 cups of water and see how it works for you.  Let me know what you think.

yes, I used a permanent marker on that bottle!

Pour your mixture into a spray bottle and label it.  You can use a prettier label.  I used what was on hand (my trusty ol' sharpie marker)  I get a lot of use out of that marker, don't I?  This might fill more than one bottle.  I poured the rest into my old shout spray bottle.

Now you're armed and ready to attack those stains!

Well, I'm off to do some laundry!

Greek Easter

I probably should say Orthodox Easter.  When I was growing up there was Easter (Orthodox Easter) and American Easter.  Well, I'm Greek.  In my house you were either Greek or American.  RT likes to make fun of me.  So, I started saying, "western religion's easter" and "Eastern Orthodox Easter."  Too much to say, and explain.  I now say that we celebrate two easters.  It's such a wonderful holiday, Jesus dying for us and then rising from the dead so we can have eternal life.  Why not celebrate it as often as you can?

We spend "Eastern Orthodox Easter" with my family (my dad's side).  Our main event is seeing family and, well, eating.  We Greeks like to eat.   We roast a lamb on a spit.

 My Uncle George is usually doing this job.  Every year he says it is his last year and that he will turn it over to the younger generation and every year he is out there at 7am,  cooking that lamb!

it tastes better when you pick it off while it's cooking

My children enjoy the park that is only steps away from my cousin's house. 

There were quite a few frogs in the area

I couldn't get pictures of them (I tried)

I decided I would take a video so you could hear them.  They were so loud!
My cell phone ring is "froggy night" and sounds just like this, in fact, when I got out of the car (when we arrived) I thought my phone was ringing.

There is always lots of food to eat (and lots of dessert, too).

The easter eggs are all dyed red.  Why red?  The red color is to remind us of the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross for us.

This year (and every year) I made a spanakotyropita, spinach cheese pie.  I only have the picture of the spinach pie in the oven.

Mmm, looks delicious, doesn't it?

Χριστός ἀνέστη!

Easter Tradition

I'll let you watch the video first before I explain. 

Every year the Easter bunny visits us, he always leaves a special egg for Alex.  This egg is left in the bathroom and is filled with......raisins.  It started as a joke (we thought the raisins looked like bunny droppings).  Alex was the one to find the egg, opened it right there (in the bathroom) and said, Oh, raisins!  And popped them into his mouth.  Every year, the easter bunny does the same thing.  (No, Alex doesn't believe, but, still expects the egg of raisins in the bathroom) and every year the Easter Bunny leaves his deposit egg in the bathroom.

We dyed easter eggs this year. 

It's a very difficult process.  Lots of concentration and hard work.

Mostly trying to decide which color(s) you want on your egg

some of our eggs, drying on the provided cardboard box

Happy Easter!

Earth Day Project - Frog Puppet

For our Daisy troops earth day project we made frogs out of brown paper lunch bags.  We can use them as hand puppets to pick up any garbage that we see when we are outside.  We talked about how we can reuse (certain) items and other items (if they have the recycle symbol) can be recycled.  I got my idea for this project from here.

What you need:
Brown Paper lunch bag
green and red construction paper
glue
black marker

I drew frog arms and legs.  Yes.  Me.  Draw.  Free form drawing, too.  Impressed?  (I'm the person that draws stick figures for people)  So, don't be afraid to try.  If I can do this, anyone can do it!  I drew my templates on white paper

then traced them onto the green construction paper.  Draw some ovals and circles for spots.  I made a larger oval for the eyes.

can you see the pencil markings?

AHHH!  FROG PARTS!

I had to make pieces for 12 of these crafts

and I'm still sane (I think)

 Glue your frog parts onto the bag.  MAKE SURE that you are on the flap side!  (the spots do not have to be in any order)
For the eyes I bent part of the oval and glued that down so the eyes would pop out.  (Don't forget to draw the eye on it!)

Draw a tongue on the red construction paper.  This is to be glued under the flap so make sure your frog's tongue is long enough (I think this one is 7 1/2 inches long)  Glue onto bag (starting under the flap)

  and....you're done!

Time to get out there and do your part for our earth!

Foodie

Thought I would take some pictures of food.  Why?  I thought they looked interesting.  Let's take a look.
Bella was tired and wanted a snack.  I peeled a tangerine for her and just put it out on a plate so she could just pick them up.  Bella told me it looked like a flower, and I had to take a picture.

Here's the cake Bella decorated for Nona's birthday

Some peppers from our garden last summer

A yummy pizza I made with pesto, pizza sauce, artichokes, asparagus, black beans and goat cheese

sounds like an odd combination, but, it was delicious!

Huevos Roncheros (RT's version of Huevos Rancheros)

mmmm, asparagus

love the color and texture

The last two of the kalamata olives that we FINALLY finished!  Ok, RT finished them.  I didn't do much except tell him that, "we have to get rid of them!"

RT is alive and well after eating these olives.  I should publish a photo of him to prove it.  I need him around.  There are still more left overs in the refrigerator that need to be tested eaten.

I have been witnessed

Apparently the door bell rang and Alex answered it.  He comes running into the office to tell me that "Aunt Bea is at the door."  I immediately think it is RT's Aunt Bea and am wondering why she would drive all the way out here from Chicago by herself?  (and not call us first?)  Seems odd. 

I make my way to the door, which is wide open.  They must have left "Aunt Bea" outside.  (such good manners that we have)  I look and it  is not Aunt Bea but a Jehovah's Witness.  She was there to tell me the good news.  Unfortunately, she does not believe in the trinity (three in one, God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit).  I'm not sure if Easter is a big holiday for them? 

I did not want to start a long discussion with her (discussing the Trinity and Jesus life, etc).  I let her say her peace.  It's good that people are out there spreading God's word, promoting the Bible.  Especially if they look like Aunt Bea.

"Aunt Bea" said her peace, I wished her well and she went on her way.  I closed the door and walked up to the kitchen.  From around the corner I hear RT, my knight in shining armor, who is always there to save me.  Apparently he was hiding out in the family room.  He said, "Is she gone?"

Navy Pier

Went for a little drive into Chicago and decided to look around Navy Pier.
 

Our adventure

It was a little windy (no suprise being that it is the "windy city") and a little on the chilly side.  We had lunch, with a view of the entrance (to Navy Pier)

probably should have taken a picture before I started eating

grilled asparagus and red pepper panini with fontina cheese - mmm, delicious!

Lot's of shops to browse, even the easter bunny was there!

We looked at a stained glass exhibit

beautiful use of colors

designs

and, my little model

(even I tried to get in the picture!)

a close up of the flowers

This is upclose on one of the windows

thought it looked cool

Bella with the Chicago skyline

smile for the camera

then there were two

where did they go?

Bella found the "X" and wanted to start digging for treasure

I asked RT to give me a couple of his favorites

Bella, Alex and I with the Chicago skyline

(either I'm shrinking or Alex is growing)

and, of course, a tree branch with the Chicago skyline in the background

RT does have this obsession with tree branches

I think it's a cool pic

we left Navy Pier and will hopefully return when it is warmer (and we can go on the ferris wheel)

drove around looking at some of the buildings

I hopped out of the car to take these

RT told me I only had a minute, this is what I got

Here's Trump tower

an innocent bystander using his cell phone

The last leg of the trip drivingi past the United Center, but, we made one last stop for a picture at

832 W. Randolph Street

home of the former D.J. Karos Co.

Until next time....