Functional Friday no. 32: How to clean up spilled paint on tile.

My Brother and Sister In Laws moved in this past weekend and they helped us paint their new room a light shade of gray.  It turned out awesome.  What wasn't so awesome was the paint my sister in law spilled, she and my husband sort of freaked out and were about to wipe it up with towels, but I quickly stopped them!

The best way to clean up a large amount of spilled latex or acrylic paint is to LET IT DRY!

Husband doubted it would dry because it was so much, but by mid afternoon the next day it was dry, I suggest putting a box or something on top of the paint so no one steps on it {we had to keep redirecting the dogs} but once it's dry it will literally peel right off the floor...

Mid drying state.

 checking to see if it was in fact dry...

 Once you're sure it's dry lift the whole blob of paint slowly so it comes up in one piece.

It actually cleaned some of the grout too.

Ta Da!

...and just throw it in the trash.  Easy Peasy.

Happy Painting!

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Food Club Meeting No. 3

For the Month of August we met up at Gallo Blanco, a mexican food restaurant located in the lobby of the Clarendon Hotel in Central Phoenix.

Above is the Elote appetizer.  It's a roasted corn on the cob with mexican cheese and paprika.  It's amazing and totally worth $5!

Street tacos for the table, each one is small and about $3 so it's best to order a few.

Huevos on tamales, a special for the evening!  

A vegetarian Torta basically, stacked vegetable toastadas with egg on top.

And I may have ordered dessert for dinner.  I wanted crepes, but I didn't realize this one was going to be so sweet!  Good thing I shared that tamale dish with my sister so it balanced out.

Brownie Dessert!

And the hard part of the night.  

Gallo doesn't spit checks so even though we all brought cash, I had to divide the check up by order and add tax and gratuity for everyone.  

Favorite Appetizer: Elote {means corn} appetizer.

Favorite Entree: I really liked the tamale dish but I've yet to be disappointed with anything on their menu.

Favorite Drink: Crowd favorite was the Pickly Pear Margarita

1-10 Service {0 worst, 10 best}: 8.5 Good service but not splitting checks is a huge inconvenience for a large group. And not bad service but our table was kind of warm, even with the AC on.

Cost {$  $$  $$$  $$$$!}: $$-$$$ everything is in the $$ range but not very large dishes so you usually have to order a few things to get a full meal.

Mistakes {corrections?}: They brought out the brownie to the birthday girl, implying it was an additional free birthday dessert instead of serving it to the person who ordered it.  Not really a mistake but I've noticed when in large groups they tend to put orders in front of the wrong person without asking who ordered it, and that can be frustrating because large groups don't always know what the other end of the table ordered or is eating.

Reservations? I didn't try because it more of a bar, and we only had 8 people, I knew they would seat us without much of a wait.

Would we eat there again? Yes, but probably just for lunch I like the day time atmosphere a bit more.

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The Start of our Fall Garden 2012

Last week Sonja and I started our seeds for our fall garden.  It's late August and I started freaking out because to get pumpkins in time for Halloween you have to plant seeds early August.  I hope by starting them inside and waiting until it cools off and {until I can properly manage the garden} they'll be here in time.  But if not, at least they'll be here for Thanksgiving!

The Supplies! 

I went to a coffee tasting at Starbucks and they had these mini cups, after the tasting I asked if I could have the used cups for my seeds.  They looked at me like I was crazy but gave them to me anyway.  So, yay for upcycling and free seed starting "pots"

I filled them with soil and then the pumpkin seeds below:

It's beyond important to label seeds so when they sprout you know how to care for them, each plant is different and baby plants need a lot of attention.

Sonja helped me fill the cups

I also started a few other plants and labeled each cup individually.

Once we had everything prepped we added our seeds.

My sister in law watered them while we were on vacation and I'm proud to say almost all of them are sprouting!   Including the seeds I saved from a fairy squash last year.  I can not explain how excited I am that I was able to save seeds and dry them properly and store them properly myself!!! I hope they survive the transplanting process.

I'll update you again in about a month once we see some major plant progress.

Happy Fall Gardening!

-Jenn

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Michigan Vacation 2012

I've been meaning to collect the photos from this trip for weeks now!  I was under the weather with morning sickness for most of the trip so the majority of photos were taken by my mom and sister.  I did however, eventually get enough energy to use my DSLR a few times.  However, the majority of the photos I did take were on my iphone and therefore instagramed.  Here's our trip in review and some anecdotes along the way.

Oldest memory of visiting my grandmother is always this "paper" plane.

It's midnight there and this girl had plenty of entertaining energy.

The next morning she brought me a wildflower from the backyard she picked with my mom.

One of our first stops was the farmer's market Saturday morning.

They didn't have as much pesticide free foods as our local market but I was able to ask around and find the booths without pesticides!

Rosemary infused vinegar just like I make (for cleaning and cooking!) along with jams and treats!

After the market we headed to sam's club (limited grocery selection, no whole foods in sight)

turns out they had a decent organic selection. (minus those potato things my mom bought but never ate)

Flowers in the front yard.

Play time at Great Grandma's and in the backyard of my aunt and uncle's.

Tuesday we headed north to Mackinac Island and we stayed inland at a hotel, this was our view...

Tuesday afternoon we took a ferry to the Island.

Please ignore my damaged camera, I'll pretend that black "dust" mark is my watermark.

Sneaking pretzels on the boat ride to Mackinac Island

Mackinac has a charming no car rule.  They only use horse and buggy and bikes.

Ice cream and caramel apples

My mom.

We headed home around 9pm just in time to see the sun set on the Mackinac Bridge.

Wednesday morning we headed back to my aunt and uncles, but not before enjoying some rainy weather and gift shoppe shopping.

My mom entertained Sonja by feeding the seagulls cheerios on our balcony. 

I didn't buy or eat anything you see here, but Mackinac is known for it's fudge so you can image the goodies around town.

My mom did end up buying like 4 bags of popcorn though...

Caramel Apple Popcorn.

After the candy shopping and lunch we headed back to my aunt and uncle's

Blowing bubbles with Grandma.

Saturday we went to my Grandma's home and Sonja played with her great grandma.

These are a few of my favorite things from my grandmother's house.  

My grandma's house if filled with vintage toys, Sonja had a blast!

My Grandma's backyard and our several attempts at a four generation photo.

There were better photos BUT they all had Sonja's face so I couldn't post them here.

4 generations in one photo, how sweet is that?

Sunday, my aunt took Sonja for a walk to see some horses nearby and these are the photos she took while I was sick in bed.

Sonja loves horses so much after this trip she keeps asking her Daddy to buy her a horse on his way home from work {when he stops at the store in the evening for groceries} 

My sister actually took more photos but I haven't seen them yet, don't be surprised to check back and see a few new photos in the mix once I do get ahold of them!

And that was our trip, not many attractions or places to see, but it was nice to relax with family around. And I'm happy I was able to share the memory of the midwest with my daughter, it was always my favorite part of summer, when we would go see my Grandmother.

Happy Traveling!

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