Welcome to our so-called Crazy Life!

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!  To a place where we are always trying new stuff, bringing our own special twist to old stuff and just trying things out because we are curious.

We are here to do the beginning phase of a project for you.  You know the one where you are staring at the idea or project somewhere and thinking to yourself, "BUT will it really turn out ok?"

From DIY-ing, to crafting, to baking/cooking, we are up for attempting and sometimes slam dunking it, to attempting and falling flat on our faces! What a ride!  It's just like anything else in life. If you try and succeed, GREAT!  But if you fall and make mistakes, LEARN from them and move forward, SmArTeR!

We both bring background of different specialties to this site and hope that we get to use them to help others, continue learning and make COOL stuff with our own 2 (well really 4) hands.  

So welcome, stay awhile, share and poke around.

This is our first try at blogging so we appreciate your patience with us as we dream.  We welcome your feedback.  

Thanks for visiting!

Easter Breakfast Casserole

by: Mimi

Type: Breakfast

Serves: 4 - 6

I was inspired to try this type of recipe because I had made egg cups recently and instead of making a fluffy scramble-type I made baked over easy eggs and they were DELICIOUS! So I saw a version of this on Food Network website that they made in an iron skillet and wondered if I could do the same thing in a casserole dish. And TA-DA, I CAN!

If you'd like the original recipe click here.

Ingredients:

• 
  Country Style Hash Brown Potatoes
• Turkey Sausage
• ½ cup Monterrey Jack Cheese
• 8 eggs
• 1 tbsp dried onion flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook hash brown potatoes in a large skillet with an oil of your choice (olive, corn, vegetable, etc).  Sprinkle with the salt and pepper amounts while cooking in skillet. Get nice and crisp.
2. In another medium sized skillet cook the turkey sausage until also crisp on the outside following the directions on the box. Once completely cooked set aside to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Scrape cooked hash brown potatoes into a 13x9” baking dish (mine was glass).
2. Sprinkle dried onion flakes onto the potato layer.
3. Once sausage has dried I ground it up in the food processor.  
4. Spread layer of sausage over the potato layer.
5. Sprinkle the ½ cup of cheese over the sausage layer.
6. 

   Make a little nest 8 times evenly in layers.
7. Cook for 5 minutes to warm the nests so the egg cooks faster and more evenly.
8. Remove dish from oven and crack eggs into little nests
9. 

   Replace in oven and cook for approximately 11 minutes or the egg white is cooked and the yolk is still a bit runny (you can poke the yolk if needed).

Serve immediately.

Special Note:I also made the bottom portions minus the egg the night before to keep the potatoes from getting soggy.

Noteworthy:

So it got a little overdone because it will turn that corner of not and perfect REALLY quick! What we really learned is that apparently our oven isn't very hot, (thus the overcooking). It was our first time making it and even though it did not turn out perfect, I would make again because...
it was still DELICIOUS! And so we ate it with just as much zeal as usual,, with a variety of toppings, i.e. jalapeno hot sauce, fig butter, siracha sauce, etc. We also served with bagels, which my kids just slid their portion right onto the bagel and ate like it was a sandwich.

Let me know if you try it and what you think.  Plus any tweaks you might have added to make it more your own! 

 Bon Apetit!

2Momviews Review

Smell these Smelly Balls - 
Essential Oil Car & Home Refresher

by Mimi & Meg
Skill level: the newest Newbie
Time: 30 minutes

Do you love Essential oils? We do! AND we found, in our Pinterest  habits a great idea (thanks One Crazy House) out how to get theses little aromatic jewels snuck into our lives, more seamlessly and gracefully. At One Crazy House, she has lots of great ideas on how to incorporate them into your daily life BUT one particular idea stuck out for us.  It was the adorable little clothespin & wool ball project. We gave it our own particular M & M spin.
We were inspired by the SNL skit from 1998, by the fictional Sweeney Sisters of NPR and their "Schweddy Balls." If you have seen that skit (and if you haven't Google IT!) you know the kind of snickering and giggling we did while working on this project.

Materials Needed:

• sharpie markers, mostly wider and 1 fine point in a white or gold or black (your choice)
• clothespins (we used regular & mini size)
• Wool balls of assorted colors and sizes 
• Essential oils
• Hot glue gun & glue 

1)We started with plain clothespins. Taking our sharpie markers and coloring them (Honestly this was a little "zen" for us). There was no intention for them to match colors with either the wool balls or the essential oils?  That just kind of happened.  

Noteworthy: 

After the fact we realized that you should write the names of what you are using on the back of the clothespin. We did this to not run the risk of mixing old and/or different types of oils (which can have different reactions and effect). So write your labels on the back with a black sharpie before the next step!

2)After the clothespins were finished being colored we took our hot glue guns and glued on the wool balls.  

3)Decision time - what aromas did we want to have in our homes and cars?

Mimi - I chose Thieves, Copaiba, Lemon, and StressAway

Meg - I chose Thieves & StressAway

(for further information about the Essential Oils we used please click here)

4)Now drip slowly 10 drops onto each wool ball of your creation

To use: Simply clip the clothespins with "smelly balls" onto your heat vents either in your car or a heat vent at home.

 2MomReview:

Mimi - The first day they were great!  I loved going into different parts of my home and getting a different aromatic experience.  I especially loved the Thieves aroma and so did my family. But after the 2nd day I could no longer smell them?  And by day 4 one of them fell apart? ( We think it was a combination of the heat from the vent drying out the glue and that the essential oil somehow deteriorated the integrity of the glue? ) 

Mimi's sum up...not very convenient for me if I have to keep "refilling" it every couple of days.  Not to mention it will become expensive. So I will keep looking for healthier ways to make my house smell better. The diffuser is not something I have tried as I can't imagine that it wouldn't get knocked over in my house with my giants. 
I also tried these in the car and found the same situation, the "Smelly Balls" weren't very smelly after a couple days.  

Noteworthy:
I am also going to try just applying the oil directly to the wood to see if it lasts longer? I'll update you to let you know how that works.

Meg - I loved the different smells in each room I went into.  I used the Thieves in the bathroom that the kids use and it was a wonderful change to the "interesting" smell that is usually in there :)  I'm with Mimi though, by day 2 I couldn't smell them anymore either.  I also had a horrible cold and the concentrated smell of the oils was making my eyes go crazy.  

Meg's sum up... I do own a diffuser that I purchased when I first ordered the oils.  I can see the benefits of using that over the "smelly balls" because it seems to distribute the scent much more efficiently. I will try using the clips in the car because I can see that they would be a great way to make the oils more portable!

As always please let us know what you tried or thought, we'd love to hear from you.

St. Patty's Day Fun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

by: Mimi

I grew up in a house where my Mom was doing these sorts of traditions with me (way back in the 70's) so I thought every house did them too. So I turned them into a tradition for my family too. So here are just a few ideas here to make St. Patrick's Day fun in your home too. From my house to yours...

At our house I take all the milk containers, water containers, salt shakers, toilets, anything liquid (with a clear or white base) and turn them green. I do this by simply adding water soluble food coloring to them.  It's non-toxic and adds a bit of whimsy to a regular day.

We also

• turn the furniture upside down or sideways.  
• hide items that normally sit out.
• eat Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops (rainbow colors) for breakfast (it's 1 time a year it won't damage them that much).
• leave notes from the Leprechauns with gold chocolate coins or Rolos.
• wear rainbow socks that day and of course ALWAYS wear green!

Here are some other St. Patrick's Day traditions I found on the interwebs...

Marie at Makes and Takes 1st idea is great print out an image of a shamrock and hide it for a week or so before St. Patrick's Day and tape a treat on the other side (coin, gum, candy, etc). (you can get more from her here)

Or how about a Shamrock shake?

Like this one from Allrecipes.com (click here for how to make)

image credit Christina from Allrecipes.com

Lastly and seemingly the most popular on the internet with kids is the famous Leprechaun trap.

Like these from Popsugar.com (click here for more of these ideas)

(image source Not Mama)

The kids have always appreciated and enjoyed St. Patrick's Day because it's just about crazy pranks (that are harmless) and silliness.  These are two things children thoroughly enjoy and I would almost go so far as to say crave. What's better than a good giggle?  Nothing.

Enjoy the day, be silly and above all make a little mess!
Happy St. Patty's Day to ya!

DIY - Simple TP Tube Bird feeder

by Mimi & friends
Skill level: kids & parents can do together
Time: 10 minutes (from start to hanging)

So winter is almost at an end (YEAH).  And I've noticed the amount of little birds coming back from their winter hiatus to warmer climates and MAN, are they hungry!  The ground is still frozen a bit and the trees don't really have any buds yet.  Crucially, my youngest noticed this. He asked me if there was a way we could help them birds, maybe feed them.  So I said let me check it out, because truthfully, I didn't really want a permanent feeder hanging out in my yard (I'm sorry I can hear my grandmother's voice in my head..."Dirty Birdies"). 
So I did a little research on a temporary way to help the birds out.  Turns out there is a such a thing and it is pretty simple. I found a lot of the information about them here. They are super easy and can be done with a majority of what you already have in abundance at your house, empty toilet paper tubes! 

Let's get started!

Materials Needed:

• Peanut Butter (non chunky)
• birdseed mix
• empty toilet paper tubes
• 2 pans (9 x 13") for rolling the tubes around in 
• 2 spreading spatulas
• wet rags (it can get messy)

1) Get your kids (age 3 and up)

2) Pour birdseed mix into 9 x 13" pans

3) Make sure toilet paper tubes are cleaned up of excess toilet paper

4) Use spatula to evenly spread peanut butter all over the outside of toilet paper tube

5) Place peanut buttered TP tube in birdseed pan and roll back and forth. (Kids 2nd favorite part)

6) Once thoroughly coated with birdseed, go find a tree branch and slide it onto the branch. (Kids 1st favorite part)

Noteworthy:  

We tried to place ours where the kids could see them from inside so we could observe who ate off of the tubes and the habits of the birds.  

And you should be prepared that squirrels can & will take off with them if they can. So make a lot.  Lord know we have plenty of empty TP tubes being produced. HA!

Quick and Easy Easter Garland

I am overly obsessed with using paint color sample cards!   I saw a project on Instructables (click here for link) for making an Easter egg garland.  I decided to give it a try!  I also love Peeps so I wanted to add some cute little bunnies to my garland as well.  Here's what I did:

1.  Gather your paint sample cards.  You will need 2 of each card.  I went for colors that I like but you can use more pastel ones if that suits your taste.  

2.  Print out egg and bunny shapes on card stock.  You will use them for your template.  You can make your own or use the one I made.  Click here for the link to the template.

3.  Trace your eggs and bunnies onto the cards.  I marked the egg and bunny template to make sure I lined up the white lines on each one.  This isn't necessary but it speaks to my OCD so of course I had to :)

4.  Cut out all your pieces.

5.  String them together.  I chose to keep my colors all together and follow a pattern but you can do it any way you like!  I used a huge needle and some fishing line to hang mine.  I would have used ribbon I think but I didn't have any and this actually ended up really cute!

6.  Hang and enjoy!

Let me know if you make this, we always love to see pictures!

Happy crafting!!!

Trial and Ebates

So I'm all for trying something new.
I'm pretty good at starting loads of things but most of the time I'm pretty TERRIBLE at finishing things.  I am VERY certain I have un-diagnosed A.D.D., because I don't sit still long enough to have someone diagnose me.

Where were we...?

Oh YES! EBATES!
Everyone and their grandmother has been talking about Ebates.  Have you gotten your check, have you referred anyone, etc., etc., etc.? It's a site or an app that pays you to shop, sort of. They pay you to shop, via a percentage, at certain vendors. And sometimes it is based on what you will be purchasing from said vendor as well.
So here's a link and let's keep each other posted as to how this is all working out.  I'll tell you monthly how I do AND you let me know how you are doing.

CLICK HERE FOR EBATES LINK to check out how to make extra cash from shopping!

Easter Eggs

By: Megan

Around this time every year I get really excited about coloring Easter eggs. I mean, I get super super super excited about it!  I spend hours on the internet looking for new ideas to try and cute way to make these eggs the best they can be!  I just love Easter eggs.

Then reality sets in.

I usually get so swept up in things at work, birthdays, the kids... also known as life.  I'm usually lucky to make eggs the night before Easter and they are always the store bought kits and maybe a crayon or two to make them fancy.

Not this year people.  Not this year.

I have quit my job, the kids will survive and maybe actually help, and I still have a birthday to plan but I can keep that in check since, as I stated before, I quit my job!

I decided to throw together a list of all the things that caught my eye this year.  Scroll through and if something catches your eye let me know!  Posting pictures of your attempts would be even more fun! I will be sure to follow up with my efforts. Fingers crossed I can pull of at least one of these ;) 

Happy decorating!

http://www.brit.co/tattoo-eggs/

http://www.oleanderandpalm.com/2012/03/chalkboard-easter-eggs.html

http://sugarandcharm.com/2012/04/diy-ombre-easter-eggs.html

http://lovelyindeed.com/diy-washi-tape-easter-eggs/

http://obviouslysweet.com/blog/2012/04/easter-eggs/

http://oh-whatfun.blogspot.com/2010/04/mustache-eggs.html

http://sewandthecity.blogspot.com/2012/03/glitter-easter-eggs.html

http://lilluna.com/lunch-note-eggs/

http://www.countryliving.com/diy-crafts/how-to/g524/easter-fun-stuff-0406/?slide=18

http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2010/04/01/easter-surprise-eggs-the-easy-version/

http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2014/03/14/totally-awesome-diy-lego-easter-egg-free-printable.html

http://www.designsponge.com/2011/04/sewing-101-embroidered-eggs.html

Sugar Cookie Mousse cups

by: Mimi

Type: Dessert

Serves: 4-6
Time: 20 minutes to prep 1 hour for stuff to set up.

So I have seen this recipe mostly in Summer food blogs but I thought this would make a good Winter dessert. Why? It's light, refreshing and well, simply put, it reminds me of Summer (sigh).

Let's get started making a mess!

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup of 1% milk
• 1 pkg chocolate instant pudding
• 2 cups of lite whipped topping
• Sugar cookie dough (i used my Aunt's recipe but I'm pretty sure refrigerated dough would work as well)  

Instructions:

1. Mix 1 3/4 cup milk, 1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding and 1 cup of lite whipped topping together with wire whisk until stiff.  
2. Pour this mixture into 1 gallon Ziploc bag & refrigerate.
3. Roll out sugar cookie dough into about a thin layer, use circular cookie cutter, mine have scallop edging so it makes it look super cute (about size if half dollar) and cut out.
4. Flip mini muffin pan over and gently press circular cut outs onto top of muffin dents. (Be sure to grease first).
5. Cook for about 8 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes.
6. Cut small hole in corner of pudding bag & gently squeeze in mousse.  Drop remaining whipped topping onto center of cup.

Chill 2-3 hrs before serving .

Noteworthy:

You could put a low-fat fruit dip in here and add fruit.  Just put cool whip or whip cream in here and add fruit and sprinkles and it would delicious too.

Let me know if you try it and what you think.  Plus any tweaks you might have added to make it more your own!  Bon Apetit!

For printable recipe click here.