where do you keep your house key?

i'm very low-key {ha!} when it comes to running. i don't listen to music or carry water. i put on my shoes, watch, Road ID, and head on out. it's just me and my thoughts {watch out!}. but nothing annoys my brain more than having things jingle and jangle around. followed closely by the paranoia of loosing my house key in the woods somewhere.

so i turn to the always handy binder clip. just unhook one of the metal legs, thread your key on, and put it all back together. 

clip it to your waistband and tuck the key inside. ta-da! now if i could only get some of those awful random tunes out of my head.

what's in your filing cabinet?

it's been a while since i've organized any of my bills or other adult paperwork in manila folders and hanging files {hooray for digital!}, but there is still a lot of other paper things in my life. mostly in the transparently thin, giant sheets of uber fragile tissue paper variety. which also involves the attempting-to-return-them-to-their-envelopes wrestling match when i'm done with them. now, they've got room to breathe {and all of their "modification" friends too}, and i still have hair on my head.

i used to keep all of my patterns in one of those plastic drawer thingies, left over from my college days. while it worked well enough, {aka kept them upright and off the floor} i'd have to pull them alllll out and dig for what i wanted. no bueno. so now they're sorted by category {party dresses, purses, rennie, etc} and super easy to search through.

also, the printer paper, printable labels, scrapbook paper, and other flat "crafty" things i had laying around. but wait, who needs 10 different kinds of printer paper...?!? filed and organized my friends.

this is probably old new to some, but it's been 3 weeks and still blowing my organized mind. seriously, where have i been? under a rock?  {more like a giant pile of UFOs...} right now it is all housed in file crates and the awesome printer stand the FIL made, but i've got some grand plans for a big lateral file cabinet in the near future, fyi greg ;)

while this corner of the studio is now oh so neat and tidy....turn around and you find this....yikes!

the lazy girls way to perfect brown rice

its been a long running joke that with having a gluten allergy all i can eat is rice and veggies. seriously, we eat a lot of rice and veggies. so much, that i make it one giant pan at a time, with no special equipment. here's the super easy way to make perfectly fluffy brown rice:

what you need:

• 3 cups of rice
• 5 cups of water
• oil or cooking spray
• spices (optional)
• 9x18 glass pan
• aluminum foil 
• large pot or tea kettle

preheat your oven to 350* and get your 5 cups of water boiling. make sure the oven is up to temp before your water is bubbling; it needs to be nice and toasty and ready to go.

run some oil or spray around the edges and across the bottom of the pan, to keep the rice from sticking to the sides.

pour your 3 cups of rice into the pan and sprinkle with the seasonings.  we're a huge fan of garlic and adobo seasoning or old bay. yummmmm. keep in mind though, no seasonings if you want to make rice milk with it.

get your foil and oven mitts ready.

very, very, very carefully pour your 5 cups of boiling water into the pan and cover tightly with foil right away. then very, very, very carefully move it all to the oven.

set the timer for 1 hour.

when time's up, take off the foil and fluff! tada!

how to get the stink out of your work out clothes

oh summer running......i love getting up at the crack of dawn with the sun, enjoying the cool(ish) breeze off the river, and getting one thing checked off my to do list before work....no matter what though, still i end up a hot and sticky and sweaty mess, ugh. i guess its better than heatstroke later in the day.

with all of this sweat, things get stinky. even {especially} the fancy sweat wicking work out clothes. the smell tends to linger, even after they've been washed. but no fret my friends, i've got an easy, eco and wallet friendly way to get rid of it. and I promise you won't smell like pickles at the end. say what?!?!

oh yes, the wildly underrated, plain ole white vinegar. seriously. i promised, no pickle smell. just pour a 1/2 cup into the wash with your detergent. then another 1/2 cup into the softener dispenser for the rinse cycle. done!

i keep a plastic 1C measuring cup with my giant jug down in my creepy basement, and measure everything out as i go along. when you take your clothes out of the washer it will smell a little vinegary, but once they're dry you won't smell a thing. oh, and for the things you cant throw in the wash, The Creek Line House has a great solution.

diy: a super easy way to shorten your pants {and keep the original hem!!}

this weekend i managed to carve 15 minutes out of my super busy schedule.....of laying on the couch :/ ...to shorten my jeans {finally}. it's super easy to do, so here we go.....

step 1: put on your pants and appropriate footwear

i usually wear these pants with flats or flip flops, so barefoot was fine.  if you are going to wear heels, put those on.

step 2: fold 'em up to the desired length

make sure you pin it in place before you take your pants off {hehehe} but be careful not to poke yourself {too many times} in the process.

step 3: measure

measure between your fold edge and the original hem.  then divide by 2.  so my measurement of 4" was divided in half to give me 2".

step 4: remeasure, pin, and stitch

adjust your fold for your new measurement. make sure you measure between your fold edge and the original hem. pin it in place and stitch right next to the original hem. a zipper foot helps.

step 5: turn it right side out and press

if you follow the pink *stitches* on the right side, you can kinda see the seam. press the extra fabric up the leg, and try your pants on. make sure you like the length, because now is the time to re-do if you don't.

step 6: tack or trim
my excess fabric is only 2", so i just hand tacked it up the leg, in the side seams.  if you have even more excess, you can trim it down and zig-zag the raw edge.

step 7: ta da!

boom! you can't even tell ;)

the did list

i like to be productive, sometimes too super duper productive {and always over estimating what can actually be reasonably accomplished}. so i make to do lists. lots and lots of to do lists.  blog to do, cleaning to do, work to do, soo many lists. add all of the extras this time of the year, and things can get kinda crazy.  holiday cookies to make, gifts to buy, gifts to wrap, shorter days, colder days, lots and lots of running around. all of that can kick your butt and give you a mean case of the blahs.

in order to reduce being overwhelmed, i like to switch from my to do list to what i call my did list. i stop tracking what needs to be done and focus more on what actually got done. i'll even break it down into baby steps. so the regular to do of cleaning the kitchen turns into: wipe the kitchen counter {check}; wipe down the stove {check}; sweep kitchen floor {check}; mop kitchen floor {check}.

one thing i've learned, the best way to stay motivated is to feel productive. more check marks on my list makes me feel better. so even if that means fibbing to myself, i don't care. as long as it keeps me moving.

ps, what keeps you going this time of the year? leave a comment!

make your own rice milk, like the other cool kids do

besides being allergic to dairy, i'm weird-ed out by even the thought of it. that's not to say i don't daydream about gooey melty cheese sometimes, but it's another mammals breast milk. groooosssss

anyways, now that you're weird-ed out too....you should totally make your own rice milk, it's sooooo super easy. and making it yourself is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the cost of buying it at the store. i've never tried to drink a glass of it, but i like it in cooking/baking/bowls of cereal/coffee/etc.

step 1: cooked rice and water in the blender
all you need is 1 cup of cooked plain rice. white, brown, jasmine, whatever you have handy. we usually use whats left from dinner the night before. then add 4 cups of water.

step 2: put the lid on
make sure your lid is on snug and everything's sealed up. seriously though, make sure everything's tight, you don't want a rice milk geyser....... :/

step 3: blend
and blend and blend. and blend and blend and blend. if you have a commercial grade super blender you won't have to blend as long, but with my plain ol' regular blender, i let it run for 6 minutes on high.

step 4: pour into your vessel of choice
if sealing the label of the rum bottle wasn't strange enough, adding some benign rice milk to it should up the ante. make sure you pour it right away, before things settle too much.  and don't worry if it does settle, pour that in too.

step 5: dish soap in the blender
fill the bender halfway with hot water and add some soap. let that blend.  you'll thank me later.

step 6: shake well
don't freak out when you open the fridge and it's separated. just shake it up and pour. {ten bucks says this is the reason it only comes in opaque packaging at the store....}

an easy, fast and inexpensive way to clean your microwave {without any chemicals!}

it can mean only one thing {besides the being thankful part}with thanksgiving coming up: so. many. left. overs. yayyyy! my fav part. a fridge full of yummy home cooked meals, without having to actually cook anything.

via

but the problem is, i'm not all that good about putting lids on things in the microwave. and greg isn't much better. so our microwave can get borderline toxic pretty gross sometimes....and i don't notice how bad it is until it gets really bad, then i rationalize that it can't get much worse......then it gets gross, and sometimes smells funny, yikes! {oh please don't look too closely}

so once it's gotten to that point, i pull out my handy-dandy white vinegar! in a microwave-safe mug{or small bowl} combine 1/4c white vinegar and 1/4c water and a splash of lemon juice.

put that in the microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes.

when it's done, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! i repeat, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!! just set the timer for 2 minutes. you want all of the steamy vinegar-lemon-water to work its magic.

after your 2 minutes are up, open the door and step AWAY from the microwave. a face full of the steamy vinegar-lemon-water is not fun times. then use a potholder to {carefully} remove the hot bowl/mug.

grab your cleaning cloth, remove the spinning plate thing, and get to wiping!

look how shiny and clean! and no more weird smell, yay!

and then proceed to put a broccoli and spinach puree in there without a lid..... :/

ps, what is your favorite cleaning tip?

diy mitered cloth napking tutorial

so i love greg to death, he's my fav. but, anytime there's food involved, you can tell where he's been. in the kitchen making a sandwich,  at the coffee table eating the sandwich, or just packing his lunch. there are crumbs/shredded cheese/sriracha sauce EVERYWHERE. and bless his heart, he knows he makes a mess, so he takes a handful of paper towels/napkins with him. just to wipe his face.  so when i stumbled upon this tutorial from Sewbon, i knew what to do with some leftover NY Giants fabric.

step 1: ignore my super old and dirty ironing board cover.

step 2: cut your fabric to size+2.25" and fold/press 1/2" from the edge.

traditional napkins are somewhere between 16"x16" to 22"x22"; what ever size you choose, just add 2.25" to that measurement. to maximize my left over fabric, i cut it to 11.75" x  16.25", which gives me a 9.5" x 14" finished napkin. then flip it wrong side up and fold it over 1/2" and use lots and lots and lots of steam. you want a nice, crisp edge.

step 3: make the adjacent edges touch, with right sides in:

flip the fabric right side up, and fold the top edge down and over so it meets the side edge.

make sure its evenly folded by pulling the unfinished corner tight and lining up the cut edges. pin through all layers to keep everything together.

step 4: stitch your miter.

you want your stitches to be at a 45* angle, from where the raw edge of your 1/2" fold meets the rest-of-the-napkin fold {at the arrow}, to the outer edge.

the easiest way to do this is by lining up the fold horizontally/perpendicular/at a 90* angle to the needle. then you just stitch to the edge. make sure you back stitch at the beginning and end.

then snip off the end and extra thread, and stitch the other 3 corners.

step 4: turn 'em right side out and press

turn your corners right side out, use a chopstick {or very carefully the tip of your scissors} to make the corner pointy. if your 45* angle was spot on, then you should automatically have another 5/8" of fabric turned under. tada! if not, no big deal, your corners might be a little wonky, but it will still get the stickies off your face. press the magic 5/8" so there's a nice crisp edge.

step 5: top stitch around the edge

and your done!

the best seam ripper of all time....an xacto knife!

i've never been all that great with traditional seam rippers. having the sharpest part of the blade allll the way at the back is bad news for me and my fabric. usually it's because i get the pointy end stuck in the nice part of my fabric, and rip it. or i start sliding through the stitches and the fabric catches in the blade and i slice my pretty fabric instead of the stitches. basically i'm a disaster with a regular seam ripper.

so as crazy as it sounds, using something sharper{caution! i'm not lying, it's sharp!!} actually works better for me: an xacto knife!

 

you can {carefully} use the sharp, pointy blade to get yourself started or pick apart top-stitching. it's awesome for opening up buttonholes too! just make sure to use the straight pin trick ;)

but for regular rippin' of stitches, i love, love, love the rounded blade. you can glide between the layers without the pointy end getting caught on your fabric.

just lay the larger part of your item on your leg or work surface, and using the hand holding the knife, sandwich the fabric between the side of your palm and work surface/leg. then use your free hand to pull the other half/smaller side away, and voila! look at all those stitches to slice!

my favorite handle to use is the orange one shown above, made by fiskars. you just slip your pointer finger through the loop and press down. no more hand cramps from holding a regular, skinny handle. it also comes with a great blade cover and won't roll off your table!

ps, what is your favorite sewing/craft tool?