Ivory Soap Gone Wrong...Horribly Wrong

The ivory soap experiment.  I found it on Pinterest. The original blog can be found at Our Best Bites.

It looked easy. And I like easy.

The ingredients needed are as follows:

A bar of Ivory soap.

"Easy Peasy Japanese" (Name that movie.)

Anyway, back to science. 

This is what you do:

Peel the paper off the bar.

Put the ivory in the middle of the microwave on high for a couple minutes.

It bubbles up…so far so cool!

When the time was up I took it out of the microwave.  Some of the bar didn't bubble, so I cooked that again.

Here is where it went off course. When we took it out of the microwave we noticed that it was crumbly…like dust.

 Ash. played with it for all of 2 minutes before he went to ride his bike.  It didn’t stick together.  We thought it would be like moon sand. And I got a headache from the cooked soap smell, which lingered for  about an hour.

A few Miner adjustments could be made here...

I failed to read the rest of the original blog before trashing the project. Oops! The part about putting it in a food processor. Apparently, that is the step that makes it moldable.   

Honestly, I have 3 bars of soap left over and I have no interest in trying this again.  The headache and clean up was enough to say…this science experiment was an epic fail for us. Watching the ivory bubble up was super cool though!

Any science experiments happening at your place?  

~ Trina

Painters for Hire

For Father’s Day we decided to paint our front steps for the hubby. No big fancy shmancy gifts in this house.  We have lived here for 8 years and the steps have never had any TLC.  It is not looking good for them. And to be perfectly honest I would like to redo the entire front porch.  Right now, that is not high on the priority list though. However, it is time for a  few Miner adjustments.

Before

So I got to work interviewing potential painters.  I didn't really care about experience.  I was more interested in cheap, cheap labor!

As luck would have it, I found 2 rather small painters that brought their $.79 paint brushes and got right to work.  I, of course, helped also to keep costs down even further.

How much did this excellent painting crew cost me, you ask?

A hug each and time on the slip n’ slide after work.

That is a price I was born to love!

If there are any drips…don’t look at me!  It was the little painters. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

P.S.  I need to get the painting crew back to do a second coat.  Maybe in another 8 years.

Work in progress

Happy Painting!

~Trina

71 Days...

That is a lot of time to sleep in

That is a lot of time to learn how to swim

That is a lot of time to read books and learn about new places

That is a lot of time to play croquet

71 Days...

That is a lot of time to make projects and paint

That is a lot of time to go on impromptu road trips

That is a lot of time to eat ice cream cones and go to the beach

71 Days...

It will fly by, but I promise that I will be as "happy as a bird with a french fry"

For those all those days.

source

Happy Summer Vacation!

How are you spending the next 71 days?

~Trina

"We Have got to Stop Meeting for Hellos and Goodbyes"

Girl’s Night Out was last night! We sure had fun. 

Not the going out to a club and dancing till dawn kind of fun. 

It was the - go to an Italian family style restaurant, sit at a big table chatting, chatting, chatting until the 

bus boy kicks you out because they closed 30 minutes earlier - kind of fun.  

And I know that we could have sat there chatting for a few more hours.

(source unknown)

You see this was a bitter sweet occasion. One of my friends (my sorority sister as we all are at that table for 7) is moving to South Carolina this week.  So it was our finally girl’s night out with her, at least for awhile. 

At one point Ruth said, “We have to stop meeting just for hellos and goodbyes.” 

And I think…what else is there?

Hello Friend. 

Good Bye Friend. 

See you next time Friend.

As we were all talking and laughing, I looked around the almost empty restaurant.  Across the room there was an old woman sitting alone at a table.  Clearly, she couldn’t have come to the restaurant on her own and her companion was away from the table. 

She didn’t even seem aware of the fact that she was sitting there alone.

My first thought when seeing this woman was “I do not want to get that old!” 

I had a pang of sadness and panic. I wanted to run and hide.  

Then I looked back at my friends, my sisters, and I thought about all the wonderful memories we have made in our 16 or so years of friendship.  

And I thought about all the good times that we will have in the future.

Life is short.

Yes, I know…Captain Obvious here. 

But I need to make a few miner adjustments to my thinking every now and then. 

I need to enjoy more of this beautiful life.

I need to look at other moments like it is Girl’s Night Out. 

I truly am so thankful for this wonderful life that I do not deserve.

And Amy, as you make your life adventure new again, may you also look at it as a Girl’s Night Out! 

 Have fun! We’ll see you soon!

~Trina

Hello...is it me you're looking for?

Hi! My name is Trina.  I'm a Miner, not a miner.  

No mining for coal here, but I do like a diamond or two or five!  

Actually, I am a teacher. Reading (K-4) is my specialty. 

If you have a question on that subject, please ask.  I would be happy to help.  

I love my job...it is my passion. 

I am also a wife and mom.  Matt is 39, B-Bear is 6 and Monkey is 4.  They are my love bugs. Life wouldn't be the same without them.  

And for the record...I am a better wife and mom because I work. It's true. I find that I don't take them for granted (as much) and I just can't wait to see them after a long day away.  

My other passion is painting...my house, my furniture, the kids.  

Real Simple

I have been a blog reader for some time now and have wanted to start my own.  I don't know where it will take me, but I am willing to give it a try.  

And to be perfectly honest, I am not sure what direction I should take this in...DIY, crafts, kids, education?  Maybe a bit of this and a bit of that. 

So I am going to leave you with this...one of my other obsessions right now is www.pinterest.com.  

Have you heard of it?  

Thought you might have.

I pin and pin and pin.  And while I have tried some of the ideas on my boards, I can do better.  

With the whole summer starring me and the kids in the face and screaming, 

"Let's get this party started!" 

I think it would be fitting to try to accomplish as many of those great ideas as I can.  

I will let you know how it goes.  Right here.  Come back and see me, K?  

{Trina}

Check out my boards....Trina's Pinterest Page