Problem: Eczema/Solution: Eucerin Baby Eczema Releif

My last post on problem/solution seems to get 3 pageviews instead of 1 (Wowza! That's a lot!! hehehe) so here's another problem/solution post. 

Problem: Eczema

My 8 mo baby has a patch of eczema on her cheek that flares up (depending on what I eat--since she breastfeed).  

Solution: Eucerin Baby Eczema Relief (instant therapy creme) works for my baby. 

It works instantly--unlike Hydrocortisone.  Also, it is dye, fragrance, and steroid free.  I was afraid to use too much of hydrocortisone so I AM so glad that this Eucerin cream works. I've tried another lotion that others said works but it didn't work on my baby. Can't remember the name. I guess certain cream works for certain individuals.

I've only used it twice on my baby so let's see how it works in the long run.  Again, I'm only sharing what works for my kids.  It may not work for everyone. 

Where to get: Amazon or your local drug stores--over the counter. 

Make your own whale soft toy pattern

I attempted a bigger version of the uniwhale.  See below for pictures and directions.

How to make your own pattern:
Figure 1

1. Draw the sides of the whale in the shape you would like.  You need 2 sides that are the same shape.
2. Draw a long slender triangle (length is the inches that will need to go around the dotted line A in the picture). This is the middle top section of the whale.

3. To draw bottom to fit, use the side of your whale to measure how long the bottom should be. See figure 2.  White is the bottom of whale folded next to the side of the whale.

Figure 2                                                 Figure 3

Sewing Direction:
After cutting your fabric, saw on the dotted line as shown in figure 1 with A to A, B to B, and so on..
I first start sewing with the side and the middle part (triangle part) and saw the A's together (see figure 3).  The large section of the middle (the triangle piece) goes on the head. The smaller section goes toward the tail.Then proceed to sew B of the other side to the B on the middle piece. Then, the bottom is sewn on, leaving a hole in the tale to pull the whale inside out.

You can't really go wrong with making a whale. I couldn't get the tail sewn correctly because I didn't pin the pieces-- so the tail did not line up correctly.   Improvised--- cut a tail fin shape from the fabric and attach it to the end.  Fleece is easy to work with and very forgiving. However, make sure you pin before sewing because fleece can stretch.  

Uniwhale Stuffed Toy

My kids love little surprises everyday.  Here's my daughter's surprise for today--a uniwhale!  All things she love--pink, whales, and uni-anything.  If you've searched for uniwhale online like I did, the name is attached to silly things such as a name of a perverted male and a surgically attached horned-whale which drives people away from Canada: http://wikiality.wikia.com/Uniwhale

Silly things aside, here's a picture of a simple uniwhale I made.  Made it in about 10 minutes-- so it's not perfect. 

This is perhaps the easiest stuffed toy I've attempted.  

I had to make the pattern (since nothing's for free online anymore).  Googled for patterns and then drew the pattern myself based on the images that I saw. Will post image of pattern later. 

Materials: Fleece for body/ Felt for horn/ black thread for eyes.

Here's a bigger version (2nd attempt) I made and posted under another post on how to make the pattern for the uniwhale (button eyes, felt flower on tail, and felt horn with yarn twirled around it) :

Solutions for Sour Pineapples and Soap Scums on Bath Tubs.

If you've been searching online for solutions, you may have encountered the ideas below.

Problem: Bought a Pineapple that is not ripe or too sour (I'm sure I'm not the only).
Solution: Turn it into Pineapple jam-- by just grinding the pineapple with it's core included and boil with sugar!  Used my Magic Bullet to grind.  Easy and delicious!
Recipe could be found at http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-pineapple-jam.html
This is one of my favorite food blog.

Jam from 1 pineapple

White bread pineapple jam roll

Problem: Tub full of soap scums and hard to scrub black scums on bottom of slip resistant tubs. Brother stayed a year with us and this is the result of his bath tub.

Solution: 1 cup warm white vinegar (microwaved for  30 sec by itself) mixed with 1 cup of Dawn dish detergent.  Spray onto surface.  Scrub all around with a brush and/or scour pad.  Let sit for 30 min to an hour and then scrub.  I've tried various solutions with no success but Vinegar and Dawn seemed to do the trick.  For this tub, I let it sit for 30 min., scrub, let sit for 1 hr, then scrub again.  The longer you let it sit, the better.

Before:

After:

Food for Kids with Teeth Extraction

One of my little one had a tooth extracted so all she wanted was pancakes and milk shakes.  I've tried various shakes that'd include protein, carbs, vegetables, and fruits---some taste delicious while others were puke worthy. Worst idea for shakes so far was blending boiled eggs with oatmeal----yuck!!! Makes me want to puke just thinking about it. (Disclaimer: I'm no dietitian or health expert. Just a mom making sure her child doesn't go hungry. Consult your own expert if needed).

See below for what tastes delicious out of all my mixes.  I just eye ball everything so my measuring below my be a little off.

Carrot and Strawberry Pancake Breakfast Recipe (protein, carb, fruits and vegetable--yum!):

1 cup of pancake mix (of your choice)
1/4 cup milk (or as needed to get the right consistency--since I just eye-ball mine)
1 egg
4-5 baby carrots (those ready to munch ones from the store).
2-3 strawberries (sliced).


Steps:
1. Put 1 egg and carrots in a blender and blend till smooth.
2. In a big bowl, pour in your pancake mix, milk, mixture with egg and carrots --then mix till blended.
3. Then fold in the slices of strawberries into the mixture.
4.  Heat your skillets and cook away!

(I didn't take any pictures but the pancakes look like the image above--a creation of the following blogger--http://littleleopardbook.com/recipes/breakfast-i-brunch/)

Milk shakes when she doesn't want to eat anything else:

1. 1/4 cup Milk
2. 1/2 cup yogurt (strawberry flavor)
3. 4-5 sweet grape tomatoes
4. 4-5 carrots
5. a little bit of orange juice (about 1/3 cup)
6. 8-10 leaves of raw spinach
7. Blend all together until smooth then serve (remember no using straws on the day of extraction--after getting tooth extracted, that is)

Other variations of our milkshakes include adding the following to the above mix as well.
-tofu
-banana
-vanilla extract


Enjoy!  If you haven't noticed by now, I'm an amateur blogger and DIYer so may patience and kindness be with you. :)

Pumpkins Growing on Tree

Just wanted to post a picture of my pumpkins hanging on my peach tree.  The pumpkin plants climbed the tree and now I have pumpkins hanging from the tree.  This is partly due to my laziness, but it all works out just fine.

How to achieve this the lazy way?----Dump pumpkin seeds and skins outside on soil to compost. They grow wherever they want to grow and climb where ever they want to climb. Hehehe!

Lego Box ---No Mess!

My son loves Legos, angry birds, and minecraft, but he hates picking up his toys.  So after numerous attempts at getting him to pick up and a few searches online, I found some ideas from other bloggers.  Below is a lego box that my husband built for my son, a modified version of what I saw online.  The one online had many compartments to separate the legos and toys, but knowing my son, he's not going to separate them so we just made it 2 sections.  One side for storage and one side to play. When he's done playing, he just need to push the box under the sofa. No need for cleaning up.  Before the box, he'd dump all of his legos and angry birds in the living room and when he's done playing, he'd leave them around or he's not able to pick all of small pieces up----many end up in the vacuum cleaner.  He's excited about not having to clean up his toys anymore.

Husband started by building a simple box.  We bought 2 precut panels (23.75inX47.75in) from Home Depot (~$14). The panel used on the bottom is thinner than the panel that was cut to used on the sides.

 Bought some fasteners and corner brace (~$3) to attach the sides. The nails were longer than the wood panel, so he had to cut a piece of the nail off.  And then he nailed to side panels to the bottom panel with very thin, small nails.

 Stained and protected the wood with Danish Oil (~$14)

The project took him about 2 hours and cost us around $50 because we had to purchase everything that was used.