More laundry room organization!

I had an ugly shelf in my laundry room that needed to look better. We are selling our house and I want everything to look perfect. Yes, it would have been fine the way it was but I was not 100% happy with it.

I looked around for large baskets that would hold our extra paper towels, toilet paper, light bulbs, and storage bags. I could not find anything for under $20. I did not want to spend a total of $80 on baskets. I tried to settle on some that were $10 but the just were not big enough.

I went to our local craft store with a coupon in hand. I was going to find something! I looked the entire store over and nothing caught my eye. I was walking out when the unstained wood grabbed my attention. They were the perfect size containers for my laundry room. They were even on sale. I picked them up for $4.99 each. Such a bargain. I figured I could paint them with leftover paint I had laying around. I did the entire project during nap time. The project is so easy.

Here is the before picture. I placed the new boxes on the shelf to see if they would fit..woohooo they are perfect!

I painted a quick coat of white paint on all of the boxes. I was going for a rustic look so I did not try to cover the wood.

After I painted all of the boxes white I added a touch of blue. The white paint was not dry. I took a dry brush and a small amount of blue paint. I wanted a weathered look.

Woohoo, the finished product. I cut some scrap book paper and printed off labels.

I love it!

1 Ingredient Ice Cream

Yes, you read that correctly only ONE ingredient. Anyone with a blender and make this creamy ice cream. The only catch is you have to like banana flavored ice cream.

I ran across this in another blog (I wish I could remember the name) and had to try it. Little G has diary allergies and I thought it would be a good alternative to rice ice cream.

Step 1

Cut up a ripe, but not over ripe banana. I would suggest freezing 3 bananas

Step 2

Freeze the banana overnight or for 6 or so hours

Step 3

Blend the frozen banana. You are going to want to add liquid..but don't. It will work. Trust me!

Step 4

Refreeze the blended banana for 3-6 hours. You can stop at this step and serve if you want. It's very similar to soft serve ice cream at this point. If plain banana ice cream does not sound good try adding something to it. I chopped up some left over Easter chocolate and added it to Big G's batch before I refroze it. Add your extra ingredients before refreezing. MmmMmmm I think nuts would be divine! Maybe peanut butter, pretzels, and chocolate!

Step 5

It's time to eat!

Potty Learning!

Yup, you know you want to do it. But how do you go about it? I talked to many been there done that moms and had great success with their tips. We started around 18 months with Big G. A little young but he really wanted to give it a go. We ran with it and it was a breeze with these tips.

Here is a link to a potty learning readiness checklist...start with this.

*Start by bringing your child into the bathroom with you. Let them watch you go and learn about the whole process.

*Read them potty learning stories. There is also a great Elmo video out.

*Stay home for 3 days. Have your child go without underpants on the entire 3 days. Well, at night they can wear some! But no diapers or pull ups. During these three days push liquids. You want them to learn the feeling of having to go potty. Have them drink very often.

*Put them on the potty every 30minutes to 1 hour. I know, it's a lot of work but worth it in the end.

*At night have them go potty right before bedtime. Then wake them up to go when you go to bed. They will sleep through the entire thing. Trust me! I would also take Big G around 3-4am. Yeah it's work but it saves you from having to clean up pee. We did this for around 3 months. He now sleeps all night long and goes to the bathroom when he wakes up in the morning.

*Have them sleep in fleece PJ bottoms. Carters makes great fleece pajamas. They are amazing. If they have an accident the pee is absorbed into the pajamas and not on your sheets.

*Once the child is going consistently you can stretch out the amount of time they go in between. We told Big G when to go to the bathroom for around 3 months. He went when we told him to go. Eventually we gave him more and more control.

*There will be accidents, they happen. Regression happens too. Just stick with it and you will be so happy that you did.

Big G is fully potty trained, even at night and during naps. It's the most amazing feeling ever. He now tells us when he has to go to the bathroom. We have such a new freedom.

I am sure I missed something. Do you have a tip? Please add it!

Happy Easter!

In honor of Easter I thought I would post how to make your own

Chocolate Easter Bunny

I bought a plastic bunny chocolate mold at the craft store

Melt down chocolate. I melted around 2 cups for this project. It took around 80 seconds. I started at 60 seconds, stirred. Then melted another 20 seconds

Stand the mold up and pour the melted chocolate into the mold. Once it's 3/4 full start to move the mold around to cover the entire bunny. You can make a solid bunny by filling the entire mold with chocolate.

Place the mold in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Here is the finished product. I store ours in clear plastic candy bags.

I also made homemade peeps. I will have to post those next year. I thought about posting them this year but missed taking pictures of some important steps. Off to dye Easter eggs with the kiddos now! Have a great Easter!