diy mama

lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips

Shelly

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Woman

woman

-Virginia Woolf

It’s sad, but true. Women are still being overshadowed by men, and probably always will be within my lifetime. There have been some great discoveries by women that have been integral in today’s society. Some of the inventions I’m thankful for: dishwashers, windshield wipers, Kevlar, disposable diapers, rotary engines, the syringe and white out! Until the late 1800’s women in America were not allowed to have a patent under their own name. Thankfully, in America, women are now able to be recognized for their accomplishments. Women rock and I’m proud to be a woman!

Shelly

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Color Swap Reveal

Happy Memorial Day friends! I hope you all had a fun filled weekend with friends or family. Mine was busy! We had a family photo shoot, celebrated Mother’s Day with my Mom (finally), had a Sprinkle for my sister and BiL, went to the Indy 500 and wrapped up today with a cookout and games out on the deck with friends. We had lots of fun watching Sophie interact with everybody and show off her new crawling skills. 🙂 I also got to use some of my awesome presents I got from Chloe from the Favorite Color Swap!

Chloe did an awesome job picking out items that were teal and had my name written all over them!

color swapWho doesn’t love getting mail?! Even better when the contents are fun, girly and TEAL (my favorite color!) I recieved a sweat free, BPA free mason jar with straw that I LOVED having my strawberry lemonade in today! I also got two teal nail polishes, a pot with Aster seeds for my front yard, gloves to use to plant them and a cute barrette to help me feel girly when I get mad about my short hair!

teal

Thank you to Chloe for the awesome swap and cheers to our soldiers. Home of the free because of the brave.

cheers

Also, if you’re interested in a tasty Nutella Parfait recipe, go check out the recipe I failed learned from over at This Silly Girl’s Life. I didn’t really fail, it is an amazing dessert….I just don’t know how to follow directions so it turned out differently than was originally planned. 😉

nutella parfait

Shelly

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Friday Finds: Creative Summer

One of my favorite things about blogging is following other bloggers for inspiration. Inspiration on craft projects, home decor, recipes and their every day life. I use Feedly to follow my favorite blogs and realized that I’ve only been checking in on them once/week. I follow a lot of them on Instagram, so I’ll see snippets of what they’re working on throughout the week, but I’ve lost touch of reading all the posts that I’d like. I decided that I wanted to showcase 5 finds per week that I’ve come across in the past week. I’ll do my best to not repeat the same bloggers but sometimes they have such awesome ideas that I’ll have to share them with you!

5.22 findss

This week’s finds were very inspirational to me in the way of creating and looking forward to summer.

  1. The giant painting by Maurice Gollota was spotted on Design Files. I have a massive canvas that I’ve entitled ‘Procrastination’ because it has been partially finished for at least 3  years…and has hung in a prominent space of my home for that amount of time! I NEED to finish it and I was drooling over the colors in this piece. I really love the pastels mixed with the neons and think I’ll take that route with my painting.
  2. In LOVE with this simple leather notebook Mandi made at Vintage Revivals. So much so that I bought a Cricut Explore!! I KNOW! I’m still giddy about it! I sold my Cricut at our yard sale this past weekend and promptly bought the Explore to make decorations for my sister’s Sprinkle! IT. IS. AMAZING. If you’ve not looked into all the awesome features, just go here.
  3. I’m not sure you feel this way but I just want to say ‘awwwwe!’ to this sweet pom pom throw by Ash at Sugar & Cloth. I love the colors and I love the thought of having a light weight throw for summer nights out on the deck to keep the dew off. I have to make it.
  4. These dreamy pergola curtains, found on A Beautiful Mess, are the inspiration for my newest outdoor diy project. I currently have sheer outdoor curtains that are constantly flapping everywhere because of our harsh winds. This tutorial, by Laura, uses a thicker fabric, drapery weights and stationary grommets to hold the curtain in place. I’m excited because I’ll get to buy a new tool–grommet punch!
  5. Cutest cakes ever came from a mistake! Kelly, at Studio DIY, was so clever to make a failed cake attempt into these popsicle shaped cakes. I thought these guys looked adorable especially with their decorated popsicle sticks!

Anyone else feeling inspired to get creative? Maybe just hungry for cake…or popsicles? Anyone have plans for Memorial Day weekend?! I’ll be (finally) celebrating my Mom for Mother’s Day, celebrating my sister and brother on their new baby and cheering on Dario Franchitti at the Indy 500! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Shelly

 

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Top Disney Attractions for Kids: Hollywood Studios

Today we’re at the third park of this series, talking about the top attractions for kids at Hollywood Studios!  Hollywood Studios is a great park for both adults and kids. There’s a lot of action and adventure to be had for kids of all ages.  You can easily spend a full day at HS and not see everything so I’ll be talking about my favorites if you’re visiting during busy season.

hollywood studios

As a kid, I hated roller coasters, even once I was tall enough. If you have young children or children who are afraid of coasters, skip Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. When I was in kindergarten we went and I was being SO BRAVE by going on Tower of Terror. Back in the early 90’s the ride did not have safety belts but rather a lap bar that came down across the entire row. When we dropped, I flew up in the air (at least 10 feet..in my mind) and my dad had to hold me down for the remainder of the ride. I said I’d never go on that ride again. I’ve since ridden it at least 30 times. 🙂 They’re awesome rides, but they can be scary for the little ones. If they are brave enough to go on the rides, be sure to get Fastpasses because they always have a long wait time.

rockin towerThe first thing I would definitely see with your kids is the Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage Show. It’s so fun and colorful with lots of singing and dancing. The other attraction that has specific show times is Lights, Motors, Action-Extreme Stunt Show. You’ll want to check a map or get the Disney Mobile App to check out the show times and wait times for rides throughout the day. You’ll also see where to meet characters on this app, unfortunately, they no longer have the Pixar parade at Hollywood Studios. I’m hoping their planning another parade but haven’t seen anything about it yet.

lights beauty

If your kids love to be the star of the stage or watch American Idol, you’ll want to check out The American Idol Experience! It’s just like the show! The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is a definite must see! If your kids love Indiana Jones, make sure they volunteer when the time comes. 😉 Star Tours is really fun for your little Jedi masters but it may cause motion sickness. If you have any big time Star Wars followers in your family, plan your trip around a Star Wars Weekend (be warned, it will be busy.)

idol storm jones

The next stop is another classic from your childhood, Muppet Vision 3D. It’s timeless and gets laughs from all ages. After watching the Muppets you can let your kids run around at Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. While you’re over in that area, if the Lights Motor Action show has a while, go check out The Studio Backlot Tour. It’s extremely exciting for kids!

muppet back lot honey

Toy Story Midway Mania is another must! It will have a long wait time so I suggest grabbing a Fastpass, seeing a few attractions and coming back. Now would be a good time to get some pictures of the family with the giant Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat! After your photo shoot, if there’s still time, you can hop over to The Magic of Disney Animation to check out the behind the scenes of some of your kid’s favorite Pixar movies. Voyage of the Little Mermaid is super cute and I’ve never been (yet), but I’ve heard great things about Disney Junior-Live on Stage!

toy hat junior

As always, I suggest going bright and early at opening, leaving around lunch time for cheaper food and a nap and heading back in the late afternoon to stay until closing. It is worth missing a couple of attractions to make sure everyone is happy during the time you’re at the park! You also don’t want you kids to be too sleepy to see the firework show at the end of the night! Hollywood Studio’s show is called Fantasmic and it is amazing! Fantasmic is a mixture of characters, fireworks, water, lasers and a great soundtrack from the movies we love. You should get there at least a half hour early if you want to sit together with your family because it fills up super quick. Be forewarned that they sell light up toys that your children spouse will beg you to buy.

Did I miss any of your kid’s favorite attractions? Any new ones you hadn’t seen yet? Some people skip Hollywood Studios because they don’t think it’s as kid friendly but it is perfect for adults and kids! Next week we’ll be at our final park of the series talking about the best attractions for adults at the Animal Kingdom!

Shelly

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How to Make Baby Food

Everything is more fun when you do it with someone! I’ve been making Soph’s baby food for at least a month. It’s been easy because she doesn’t eat much per day so it goes a long way once I make her food. She’s starting to eat more though, so I was happy when my friend asked if I wanted to do a day of baby food making. I’d say it was quite easy and efficient!

chop, cook, puree

I took Soph over with me and she did her thang (lots of loud yelling) while we steamed, chopped, baked and pureed our hearts out! It makes me feel proud when I make her food. I’m not against store-bought baby food, we’ve given it to her, but I enjoy saving money while knowing the exact ingredients in the little bean’s food. Also, I have the time and tools to make it so I’d kind of feel bad if I wasn’t making her food. 😉

We made four different meals, two of which, I’d never made. We picked up a bag of spinach, a bag of carrots, three acorn squashes and 4 sweet potatoes. We used an oven, a microwave, a borrowed Beaba babycook, and a Cuisinart food processor. We also have two different methods for freezing and storing. My friend has these trays which stack well and have a lid but are a bit tougher to get the food out. I have these that have no lid (I use foil) but the food pops out easily and you can use them for brownies (their main purpose)!

baby food storage

I really liked making this food with two people because while my friend worked on one food, I would be working on another. First, we cleaned all the vegetables. For the spinach we de-stemmed the leaves, put them in the Beaba to steam and attempted pureeing it in the Beaba. The consistency seemed pretty difficult for our new eaters, it only lasts 3 days in the fridge (you’re not supposed to freeze spinach) and it didn’t make very much for the quantity of leaves we bought. For the carrots we peeled, chopped and steamed them in the Beaba. The Beaba did a good job of steaming the carrots but we weren’t able to fit that many in the container so we had to do two rounds of steaming. We, again, attempted processing the carrots in the Beaba but transferred them to the food processor because we didn’t like the consistency.

IMG_3016

For the sweet potatoes we poked them with a knife, wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven at 425F for an hour. Once we pulled them out of the oven we peeled, quartered and threw them into the food processor.

sweet potatoes

The acorn squash is my favorite food to make because it’s the easiest and yields the most food. We cut the squash from top to bottom, scoop out it’s seeds, put the halves upside down in an inch of water in a glass baking dish, and put it in the microwave for 20 minutes. Once we pull it out of the microwave we scooped out the insides and threw it in the food processor. Most vegetables you could mash well enough with a fork, including the carrots, sweet potatoes and squash, if you didn’t have a food processor.

squash

After splitting everything, We both ended up with two full trays and meals for the fridge for this week. We were happy that we didn’t buy any more food because we wouldn’t have enough freezer storage. We also learned that spinach isn’t worth our effort because of the small amount yielded and that we’d buy a lot more carrots next time. We’ll also be using our steamers next time, rather than the Beaba for steaming because we can do a larger quantity. Next time we’re going to try broccoli, cauliflower and turkey!

Have you pureed your own baby food? What was your favorite methods? What did your babies LOVE to eat?? Be sure to check over at my friend Beth’s site to see how myself and other mommy bloggers make time for ourselves!

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