How to Remove a Splinter Easily

How to Clean Lime Scale Quickly

Living in rural West Virginia can be tough sometimes. We have extremely hard water. One of the problems I have to face often is lime scale. It seems like every couple of months I have to drain my toilets and began the scrubbing ritual. In the past 12 years I have learned a few tips to help battle it. 

Lime Scale is a hard, off white, chalky deposit that is often found in: toilets, sinks, show heads, faucets, and hot water tanks. It can often clog pipes, and the outlet valves on toilets causing major headaches for home owners. 

Here are a few tips I have found to work well over the years:

1. Pumice Stone: 

That's right, this baby can sand away lime scale just a fast as the dead skin on your feet. I often use a pumice stone to keep lime scale at bay. Its great to remove small portions in the sink or on faucets. I have also used it in my toilets to help maintain the chaos. I buy mine from the Dollar Tree and can usually get 4 or more uses out of them depending on the amount of lime scale deposited. Please put this pumice stone with your cleaning supplies and keep it just for you lime scale battles. 

2. Vinegar: 

If you are in a pinch and can't make it to the store, grab some vinegar and a few paper towels. Place the paper towels over the lime scale and saturate with the vinegar. This will keep the vinegar right where you want it to be. Let sit for a few hours or even over night, if you have the time. Then take the pumice stone and give it a quick scrub, this should work pretty quickly. 

Now if using this in your toilet, you need to drain the water from the bowl. Then place the paper towels over the lime scale and apply the vinegar. Then just to be extra safe, I tape my toilet seat shut. That's right! You didn't read that wrong. Just one piece from side to side so the lid will not open. Now don't worry the toilet is not gonna blow up, I just do this as a subtle reminder for my young daughter, so she will not forget I am cleaning the toilet and use it. This insures I will not have to unclog my toilet later. ;)

3. CRL:

For severely hard lime scale this is the fastest method I have tried and its simply just shelling out some cash. I got mine for around $6 at my local Dollar General. Simply apply to the area and wait 2 minutes, and then wipe it away. If applying to a small patch, I would use a paper towel again to keep the area saturated. 

When cleaning a very nasty toilet, drain the toilet and fill the bottom with CRL. Apply paper towels to spots and cover with CRL also. Wait 2 minutes and them scrub away the lime scale. It should come off very easily. 

4. For shower heads:

Fill a plastic container with CRL or Vinegar and place the shower head inside. For CRL wait 2 minutes. With Vinegar at least 2 hours. Then wipe clean and secure back to the shower pipe. 

I hope these tips help make battling lime scale a little easier. One more thing: Please never put Coca-Cola in your toilet. It is not going to give you the results you want and is just a waste of your time and money. *Yep people really suggest and try this*. Save it for a nice refreshing treat for a job well done. 

Organizing Your Refrigerator

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DIY Fabric Softner Dryer Balls

Dryer sheets, egh... who needs um? These things are a bigger pain then they are worth. Out dryer pooped its self last week and we are getting a new set. While I am waiting for the delivery day, I have been looking up a bunch of neat DIY's for laundry. Our Dryer gave out because it developed a thick waxy coating over the heater unit. This filled my home with smoke and we were very lucky it did not cause a fire. So I'm out of the dryer sheet game. This is my new alternative. 

These yarn balls are made from 100% wool, old Tights, and Essential oils. Check out this video below from "In The Workshop" to find out how to make them. 

DIY Carpet Cleaner

babble.com

As a mother and pet owner, I have spent a lot of time and money purchasing carpet cleaners for my home. There is nothing worse then having company come over and your carpets look dirty and nasty. However it just comes with the territory. Animals and Children spill things all day.

Here is a cheap and easy remedy to remove set in stains:

• 1 part vinegar
• 2 parts water
• Iron

Mix these together in a spray bottle and spray over set in stains. Place a damp cloth over the stain and and place your Iron on top, moving it around as it sits. Do this in 30 second increments and check after each to see when your stain is removed. This recipe is great for for common food stains and will remove any odor if its present. 

DIY: Lip Gloss

Hey everyone! My daughter was my inspiration for this DIY. After we did the DIY Lip Stick, she wanted to make some lip gloss. So we gave it a go. This is a great DIY for little ones, sleepovers, girls nights, and such.

So this of course is another Pinterest project. I tried making this lip gloss 2 ways and I will describe each. I was not thinking and did not take as many step by step images as I usually do. I think it will be okay though. 

What you need:

• Petroleum Jelly
• Cocoa Butter
• 1 white or light colored crayon
• Koolaid for recipe 1
• Blush or eye shadow for recipe 2
• Small containers
• Bowls to make a double broiler 
• Stirrer
• Paper towels

- As always, please ask your parents for help if you are a child. :)

1. I started off by putting 2 Tbsp of Petroleum Jelly, 1 Tsp Cocoa Butter, and about and 8th of the white crayon in the bowl. I placed this in a pan that was filled half way with water, to make a double broiler. I decided to use Cocoa  Butter with this because it adds texture and extra moisture to the gloss. I also added the Crayon because it will add firmness to the recipe so its not super gooey. This makes 2 of our small containers. 

2. When this begins to melt, I start to stir it with a stirring stick until it is uniform. The Cocoa Butter will make the mixture appear milky. Don't worry about this, it will not effect the end results. 

3. After it has melted you want to carefully remove the bowl from the pan and place in a safe place to cool. About 5 minutes. It needs to be room temperature before you add the Koolaid or the color is not going to mix into the mixture, it will just sit on the bottom of the bowl. 

4. While it is cooling grab a small amount of Koolaid powder on a spoon. Place a few drops of water on the powder. This will insure that the color is vibrant and shows up well. 

5. When your Lip Gloss mixture reaches room temperature, place your Koolaid in with it and grab a metal whisk. I hope your prepared because you will be mixing for 4-5 minutes to get the Koolaid to absorb.

6. This is what it will look like once its done. I do not care for this at all. It tastes really bitter on the lips and I even added 1 Tsp of sugar to it to try to sweeten it up. Its also very drying to to lips even with all of the Petroleum Jelly and Cocoa Butter. If you wanna see some that actually works well keep reading. 

7. Prepare your bowl the same way as before. While its melting grab a eye shadow or blush you never use. You can also buy a new one very cheaply at the dollar store for this project. I just used a 6 pack of blush I never used. Take your stirrer and breakup the powder until its really fine. 

8. When your Lip Gloss mixture has melted, place the crumbled powder in the bowl and mix it in. You do not have to remove the bowl from the double broiler like you do for the Koolaid. The color will take immediately. 

9. This is what it looks like in after its all mixed up. Its smells like Cocoa nut and it very comfortable on the lips. The piece of crayon helps keep if from being overly sticky. This is just as good as any regular store bought lip balm. After you have poured it into your container, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm.

10. I wish I was able to make more of these, but I was limited on the number of containers I had after our DIY Lipstick adventure. So here's is 1 of each of the colors that we made. I did make 3 of each because my daughter wanted to make some for her friends 

Impressions: The  two on the top are Koolaid. You can see how they are grainy. My daughter wont wear them because they are bitter. They even smell bitter. The rest are made from the blush palette. I would have swatched them but they are all sheer, so they would all look the same. If you choose to do one of these DIY's I would use makeup powders. That way you wont be wasting your time. I made 18 of these in less then an hour. I only made 1 each of the Koolaid. 

Also, don't be afraid to be creative. you can use any color. We plan on making some more after I grab some rainbow eye shadow I saw at the dollar tree. I hope you have fun and get to make some memories as sweet as ours. 

Taming Unruly Tangled Hair + DIY Hot Oil Treatment

Today's post hits on a personal note for me. I don't use this often myself  as my hair is growing out of a pixie cut from 2 years ago still. Its about shoulder length now.

However, I do use this monthly for my daughter.  This picture is from last October.

My little diva has hair past her bottom and its very thick. She wont think or hear of cutting it. To be honest I would probably bawl my eyes out if she did. While I love her hair, it can become very stubborn at times. The water in our area is hard and it takes its toll on her hair. After a month or so the ends of her hair start to look like plastic (the best way I can describe it) doll hair.

Photo: Sally Beauty

At first I thought this was due to split ends but my hair stylist told me that the chlorine from our water was eating away at the ends of her hair. So to manage this we started using a clarifying shampoo. Our go to is Sally Beauty Supplies Ion Clarifying shampoo. Its $6.99 USD which is a bargain. We where using some from the salon but I could not get over paying $25 per month for it, so we switched. Ion is just as good.  We saw immediate results with this shampoo and her hair looked more vibrant then ever.

Photo: Babyrazzi

However, her hair while looking much healthier, was still a tangled mess every time we went to brush it. With her hair being this long some tangles are expected of course, but I was spending 20-30 minutes fighting her tangles out every day. Store bought hot oil treatments just did not work, cost $5-6 USD, and needed to be done weekly.

Photo: Drugstore.com

To help keep her tangles at bay, I was keeping her hair in a variety of french style braids. While we love a good braid, some days she wanted to wear her hair down. This is where a Coconut Oil Treatments comes into play. This treatment makes her hair soft and it de-tangles easily. She is good to go for a month or more after each treatment and the cost is much lower then store bought preparations.

Photo: Women's Daily Magazine 

Coconut oil is fantastic for our hair. It deeply penetrates, protects hair from Hygral Fatigue and protein loss. What is Hygral Fatigue? Basically, when our hair is wet it absorbs water making it plump up, when it dries it releases this water and our hair shrivels leading to hair damage and that is Hygral Fatigue. 

DIY Coconut Oil Hair Treatment

What you will need:

-Coconut oil

-Shower cap

-Blow dryer

1. Scoop out some coconut oil into a small bowl. 

Photo:Firstalt

2. DRY hair. Your hair needs to be dry for this to work properly. We usually do this just before bath time. 

3. Get a small amount of coconut oil in your palm. Rub together until it softens. Apply to hair one 1" section at a time. Be sure to pay special attention to the hair ends. 

4. Continue this process until all your hair is saturated, then comb with wide tooth comb.

Photo: apintegracion

5. Once saturated, place your hair into a plastic shower cap.

Photo: Secondlife

6. Blow dry on low to medium heat for 10- 15 minutes. 

Photo: Salondoll

Blow drying is optional but I find that is helps the oil better penetrate the hair and leaves the hair looking very shiny. 

7. Wash your hair with shampoo until all the oil is gone. 

Before and After: You can really see a big difference.

If you have stubborn unruly hair, I think you will find this works well for you. Its really worth the time and effort to see the results. 

Whiten Your Teeth at Home

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for ways to whiten my teeth that are affordable. I love coffee and with that love comes the price of coffee stained teeth. Over the years I have tried so many do it yourself whitening kits. Strips, tooth pastes, uv lights, and more. I have even paid $800 to have my teeth professionally whitened at my dentists office.

Finding away that works and is affordable can often be hard. After many attempts I have finally found something that works and it is Activated Charcoal.

Photo: amazon.com

You may be asking yourself how taking a pill is going to whiten your teeth? Well you don't take it at all. Its whats in them that will make your teeth look amazing. You can buy Activated Charcoal two ways, in powder form and in a capsule. I use the capsules. Activated charcoal works by absorbing the staining on the teeth and removing them. It can also kill bacteria in the mouth preventing tooth decay and gingivitis, leading to less cavities.  Now lets go get whiter teeth. 

Whitening Your Teeth With Activated Charcoal:

Items needed:

-Activated Charcoal

-Tooth Brush

-Tooth Paste

-Small cup or container

-Paper towels

1. Once you have gathered all of your items, head to your bathroom sink as this process can be messy. 

Photo:strapharm.fm

2. Take one capsule from the bottle and open it up. This can be tricky. Make sure you open it over your container to prevent spilling it all over the bathroom. Sometimes the capsule can be very stubborn and will not pull apart. In that case poke the bottom of one side of the capsule with a needle, then squeeze and roll the capsule around between your fingers to get the powder out of the capsule. 

Photo: Instructables.com

The reason I use the capsules is because 1 capsule is the amount of powder you need. So its already measured out for you. 

2. Wet your tooth brush and apply a small amount of tooth paste. The tooth paste will help the charcoal adhere to the brush. 

Photo: sensorysavy

3. Now rub your tooth brush in the Activated Charcoal powder until saturated. 

Photo: theunextream.com

4. Now just brush your teeth as you normally would. Be prepared that this will make your mouth and teeth black. Don't worry though, because as soon as you rinse and rebrush your teeth will be back to normal, just a few shades lighter. 

Photo:lifeoflorie.com

5. You want to brush your teeth with the Activated Charcoal for 2 minutes. 

Photo:sharpsolutionsnq.com

6. After your 2 minutes are up, rinse your mouth and tooth brush clean. Then brush your teeth like you normally would to remove the remaining charcoal.  

Photo: worldtruth.info

7. Clean up any remaining charcoal on sink and counter top as it may stain. 

Your teeth will be at least one shade lighter after the first time. Continue daily for 2 weeks or until you reach your desired shade of whiteness. Then do once every week or two to maintain your new pearly whites. 

I saw results immediately. I got my Activated Charcoal from my local CVS Pharmacy for $10, but you can find it on amazon HERE. Amazon also sells it in the powder form. Out of all of the whitening products I have ever used, this is by far the best. If you give this a try, leave me a comment and let me know how you liked it.