It's Official

In the last four months we have eaten more mexican food than I have ever eaten in my entire life.  True story. 

That my friends is a puffy taco.  Oh, and an enchilada too.

I've come to learn that there are two ways to ask questions about the menu:

#1

Me:  What exactly is a puffy taco?

Mexican waitress: ....a puffy taco.

Me: Ok, but what is it?

Mexican waitress:  It's....a puffy taco.
*Insert "you're crazy lady" expression here.

or #2

Me: What exactly is a puffy taco? I'm from Illinois.

Mexican Waitress:  Oh! It's a flour tortilla that is deep fried and when they fry it, it puffs up! A puffy taco!

Works every time.
Either that, or secretly google unknown food with my phone.  That works too.

S'mores Cookie Bars

I ran across this recipe today on pinterest and had to make it! Looked delicious and, since we won't be roasting marshmallows anytime this season, was a good substitute.

Bonus, I had all the ingredients except the marshmallow fluff and chocolate! It was easy to make and didn't take long either. I ended up using a round cake pan because we don't have a square one yet. It worked just fine, just looks like cookie pie instead of bars.

The verdict: YUM. Cody had 1 1/2 pieces and asked if I could make it everyday. It is super rich though, but still so good!

Repurposing Wine Corks

For our guest book at our wedding we had guests sign wine corks. With some awesome help from my Aunts we collected a ton of corks! After the wedding I had a bunch leftover just waiting for a project.

I found this Monogram Letter idea via pinterest (finding lots of neat ideas there!) and thought it looked easy enough!

I picked up a wooden "M" from Hobby Lobby for about $1.50 with a coupon. I sorted out the blank corks for the middle and the decorated/printed corks for the outside. Then I hot glued away!

95 corks, 9 glue sticks, and 3 burnt fingers later and I had this:

I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. I originally was going to add ribbon and hang it on the front door, but now I might just set it on the mantle or hang it on a wall some where. For now it's living on the kitchen table. Which still looks pretty cool.

Laundry: Loads of Fun

I recently ran across this recipe for laundry soap via pinterest.  At first I thought "Why in the world would I take the time/effort to do that?" but the recipe was actually really simple.  Once I saw that it made enough for an estimated 576 loads for $6 I was sold!

I figured it was worth a try for that price!

(Plus, hearing my sister mad it and it was working well didn't hurt either!)

I found the washing soda, borax, and bar of soap (Dove) at Walmart, and totaled about $10.

I ended up making half a batch since my pot wasn't big enough for full one!

It was super easy, didn't take long, and I have a ton of supplies left over.

I'm storing it in my old Tide bottles, so I can use the lid to measure, and so far it's working really well! It doesn't leave a strong soap scent, and everything looks clean.

I even washed Cody's yucky muddy/sweaty workout shoes and they came out looking brand new!