#DisneySide Party 2015

   I was lucky enough to receive a #DisneySide @home celebration kit in exchange for hosting a party with my friends and family to show off our Disney side. When the kit arrived I was amazed to see how much awesomeness the team at MomSelect had managed to pack into it. It had everything I needed to get my party going. Some of the sponsors that included products were Disney Parks of course, Duff cake mix, All Mighty Pacs, wisk, snuggle, crayola, and HP. I absolutely loved all the laundry stuff, they made my laundry smell so much fresher.

   OK so I gotta be honest with you on this, I decided not to stress over being pinterest perfect for this party. I really wanted to stretch out the fun for the whole month of February so we did just that. Anytime we had guests we did something Disney. Anytime we just needed a mood pick me up we put a Disney movie on the projector and made our living room into a theater. We had fun, grownups included.
   My husband and I are currently working very hard and strategically to pull ourselves out of dept so we can start to save to visit one of the Disney parks because we have never been lucky enough to go yet and it is something I want to do with my girls before too long. So I am going to save as much as I can and get creative on keeping the family entertained in the process. Luckily Disney @ home celebrations are something we can always pull together to create magic any day and everyday.

 

These Minnie Mouse Minnie Cheesecakes were a huge hit. 

The Duff Tie Dye Cake mix can be found on Amazon, It was awesome and everyone really enjoyed making it and eating it.

   In Case you are wondering about my movie projector, It is an Optoma GT200, I bought it over a year ago and I still love this thing. It plays movies via Itunes, Netflix, or Hulu on any pre Iphone 5 or Ipod or it can be hooked up via HDMI to a pc. We can watch clear movies on any wall or a sheet, indoors or out. In the summer we watch movies outback on the side of our house with the neighbors. With the price of going out to a movie these days it has made it worth the purchase to stay home and enjoy plus I prefer this than any TV I have ever owned. 

amazon affiliate link

Texas Style Kolaches

Simple sausage and cheese kolaches.

   Being from Texas I always loved picking up Kolaches and donuts for breakfast or brunch. Now I do know that technically kolaches are a fruit topped pastry but back home you could get them with all kinds of different meat fillings like BBQ pulled pork or sausage, my favorite. Now that I live in Idaho most people here have never even heard of kolaches so I have to make my own. I make a large batch for this recipe to have enough left over because they are easy to store and are great for quick breakfasts, brunch, lunch boxes, camping, and on the go snacking. My kids absolute love these.   

Here's what you need: 

•2 1/2 teaspoons quick rise dry yeast or two packets

• 2 cups warm milk  105-110 degrees 

• 1/2 cup sugar 

• 8 cups flour 

• 4 eggs

• 1 cup melted butter

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 extra egg beaten for egg wash 

• Sausage and shredded cheese. Or anything else your heart may desire for the filling. 

Makes approximately 48 kolaches

1. In a very large bowl mix together yeast, warmed milk, sugar, and 1 cup of flour. Cover and let rise as shown in the pictures below. 
2. In a separate bowl beat 4 eggs then slowly mix in the melted butter and salt.
3. Stir in egg mixture to yeast mixture when doubled in size. 
4. Mix in flour 1 cup at a time 
5. Knead dough for several minutes on a floured surface then cover in a large greased bowl. Don't forget to spray oil on the plastic wrap to cover. 
6. Let rise til doubled in size, about an hour. 
7. Punch dough down then pull off small egg sized portions. 
8. Flatten and stretch then place filling on top and wrap dough around pinching it back together. 
9. Place seam side down on greased cookie sheet. 
10. Brush top with egg wash. 
11. Bake at 375 degrees for 13 - 15 minutes or til golden brown. 

Now eat up and enjoy. 

Super Easy Eggrolls

My husband may be upset if he finds out I'm giving out the family recipe. But that's never stopped me before.  😏 so here goes. 

For this recipe I usually make enough for plenty of left overs. 

What you need:

• 2 bags of coleslaw mix

• 4-6 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 2 tablespoons powdered ginger

• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder

• 2 packages of eggroll wrappers

• 2 lbs ground sausage. If you have an HEB around their brand sausage is the best. 

• small bowl or cup of water and pastry brush. You can also use a small spoon. 

Directions:

Cook 2 lbs sausage in pan till browned, drain and let cool. 

Mix all ingredients in a very large bowl then put a spoonful of mixture in the center of wrapper. Brush water onto the top corner and two side corners then roll from the bottom, tuck in sides, roll the rest of the way.  Wallah! Eggrolls! Now heat some oil (I like peanut oil) in a sauce pan and add egg rolls. 

Cook for 3-5 minutes or golden brown. 

Let cool and drain on a wire rack over paper towels. 

 These are super easy to make and go great with steamed rice and vegetables.

UpCycled: Painted Kitchen Table

Here's a little DIY project I did a couple months ago. When we moved to Idaho several years ago we bought this table and chairs at a thrift store for real cheap. My husband loved it and I dunno, it always just seemed kinda dirty and old but not in a good way. So I took it out back on a tarp and scrubbed the legs and the chairs clean and spray painted them. Let it dry. Repeat. Then did a couple coats of clearcoat. I chose to leave the top original for now at least. I love my kitchen table and chairs now.

Here's what I used....

The Tooth Fairy

Oops, has your Tooth Fairy ever had to leave an IOU?  A couple of teeth ago the fairy didn't have any money so she had to leave a tiny note folded into a tiny envelope for my daughter so now it has become tradition for them both to get a little letter when she has a tooth to pick up.

Easy Fun Valentine's cards for Minecraft lovers

Both my 9 and 6 year old are obsessed with the Minecraft game and of course those crazy YouTube videos from StampyCat or something. Ha! I never thought I'd hear myself telling my kids I would rather them play a game all day than watch a video of someone else play a game. Although I do love to see how my kids use their creativity to build some pretty cool things in the game. Well, while at the stores I was kind of surprised to not see many options for Minecraft Valentines. Then I came across these awesome FREE printable Valentine's day cards from agrandlife.net. You can find the PDF here and print them out on card stock. 

My girls also really loved these Creeper  candy wrappers. They are easy to make just print, cut, and glue the edges together. Also Free you can find them at simpleasthatblog.com to download the PDF Here. They were made to wrap gum but as you can see they also fit these tiny Hershey's just fine. 

Mad Science Birthday Party

For my daughters 8th birthday she was really starting to get into Science. So I ran with it and put together a Mad Scientist Party for her and her friends. Here's what we did and the kids had a blast! 

^ The self inflating balloon experiment. I made labels for empty bottles and pre filled them with vinegar and added baking soda into balloons and carefully put them on the bottle top as to not spill the baking soda in the. When the kids got there they could lift the balloon spilling the soda into the vinegar causing a cool reaction. 

^ The slime making experiment was a huge party hit and made a great party gift

A bought the specimen jars off of amazon.com for just a few bucks. 

Then we measured out the ingredients for each kid before the party and let them mix them together and add their choice of food color. Here is an easy slime recipe http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryactivities/ss/slimerecipe_2.htm

^her cake was awesome we got it at winco with a space scene they had in their book. Another option is that you can take any photo  and have it printed on icing. 

^ we made Gatorade with dry ice and poured the drinks into cups with the spout to be safe bit the effect was very exciting to the kids. I also made personalized water bottle labels. One for water and one for the vinegar project. 

I also found a set of neon colored test tubes on amazon that I filled with nerds and Petri dishes that I filled with jello and topped with gummy worms to look like a bacteria culture. 

     This is one of the funnest birthday parties I have thrown, and with the great finds from amazon and making everything else it really ended up not costing very much in the end. I hope to inspire and if anyone needs the bottle labels template just let me know. I'm happy to share. 

Show your #DisneySide with a pinup flare

   I was super excited to receive an email this year from MomSelect to host a #DisneySide @ home party again. Here's the party we had last year from the box of Disney goodies they had sent us http://gingerladyluck.blogspot.com/2014/03/always-time-to-show-your-disneyside.html This year is going to be even better. We should be getting our party box this Friday, I can't even tell you how excited my kids are. We will be sure to post an unboxing when we get it. In the meantime while we wait I have been following along with the disneysidecelebrations facebook page where everyone is posting great ideas for all things Disney party. I also follow Pinup Girl Clothing on my facebook page, where I have ordered several amazing vintage inspired, American made, durable dresses from such as this one on me, called the Heidi dress, of which they have available in many different colors.

Pinup Girl Clothing or otherwise known as PUG, now has a line of #Disney inspired outfits and purses which I absolutely adore and need to order. I really love how beautiful their clothes make me feel, and I believe that is important for me to dress myself up every once in a while for my own sanity.  I started a #DisneySide pinterest page here http://www.pinterest.com/Gingerladyluck/disneyside/  showcasing the PUG line of Disney Inspired purses and dresses. The best part about their clothes other than the quality of course is that most of their outfits fit sizes XS to 4X and they have beautiful models from XS to 2X to really showcase their clothes. Here are just a few they have available on their site

 http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/collections/fairytale-fantasy.html

 http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/bags.html

 

 P.S. I am in no way affiliated with PUG I just really really love their clothes and wanted to share. Now go out and show the world your #DisneySide!

Introducing my little Vloggers

  I may have created a monster or two.... My girls have been begging me to help them start Vlogging on Youtube for the longest time and I finally caved. Sydeney, my oldest is obsessed with all these YouTubers lately, especially a girl named Madi Lee and the Minecraft ones with Stampy Cat I believe, as some of you other parents with tweens probably know about too. I never ever thought I would hear myself telling my child to play more video games rather than just watch a video of somebody else play the games. Sigh, kids these days eh?  Anyway she seemed really interested in the making of  videos so I decided to let her run with it and now she is learning how to produce and edit. So I officially introduce you to the duo #ScarletPearl Sydeney Scarlet and Madeline Pearl

 

Upcycled TV stand into Dog Bed

  A few weeks ago I was on Facebook, like I am everyday, when I glimpsed a dog bed made out of a tv console. I thought well that's neat and kept on scrolling. The next night I couldn't stop thinking about it and went online to Craigslist and found a perfect piece of old furniture that I managed to get for a whopping $10 bucks, so the next morning I made my husband go with me to pick it up at which time he told me he thought I might be crazy. He may be right.

This is what I got. A nice solid heavy tv stand that had two drawers and owners had removed the back on.  It was perfect. 

My little helpers were excited. We went to Lowes and found some scrap wood to have cut to size for cheap and removed one of the drawers completely but put the front back on so it looked even. Then added paint and decorations.