T&T ~ fruit flies be gone

Okay so this is going to be short and sweet and (for the moment) photo less! 

It has been one long (illness laden, parent teacher conference having) week for me! Not to mention our worry here for all of our friends & family in Nairobi, Kenya. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as many have died during a terrorist hostage situation. 

With that neon said here is your marvelous (and simple) tip:

To get rid of fruit flies follow these simple steps:

1. Put apple cider vinegar in a bowl/jar

2. Cover it with plastic wrap and secure the plastic with a tight rubber band

3. Poke holes in the top 

That's it!  Seriously - those fruit flies will fly into the jar and be trapped. I have a gross jar with tons of them in the bottom. Yes, the vinegar smells but only for a day or two and if rather smell a little bit of vinegar than have fruit flies everywhere - blech! 

Love you all! 

Celebrate Community

29:11 Inc. has the opportunity to share who we are with the community at a local event.

We would love to have you come out, see us & have a great time.

T&T ~ Keeping Your Family Organized ~ Kathy

Here are some quick tips on how I keep my family organized:

I have 3 very active kids, and I also love to volunteer with various groups, my husband works crazy hours that are never set in stone...oh, and I work full time too.  My kids are 7, 8, and 11.  No one is old enough to drive, and they are still too young to be unsupervised.  So managing my family is often a chore. 

I keep a master electronic calendar.  I prefer the electronic calendar (i use the one on my phone), because is automatically shows me where activities conflict.  I usually start the name of the actiivty with the child(ren) or person's name that needs to be there.  (i.e.  Joe: Scouts or Girls: Ballet).  This helps me determine when the random birthday party comes up, who is available.

When my kids are involved in an activity (i.e. sport or club), I always make it a point to find out who else is in the group and make friends with the parents of the other kids.  My best tip really is to network with other parents.  So when my activities do conflict, I know who to call for help.  When you take the time to get to know the other parents, you learn who you can trust and who you can't.

Goals for my kids in the evenings are pretty simple.  I want them to:

* finish their homework

*eat a good dinner

* go to bed a normal time  

...but since we are involved with numerous activities, it can be hard to accomplish those tasks.  So we have to multi-task.  While one kid is at soccer, the others must be doing homework.
  

Sometimes we eat in shifts.  

Thursdays the girls had Scouts from 6-7, and my son had scouts 7-8.  So my son would eat during the girls meeting, and the girls would eat during my son's meeting.  This would require some advance planning, and I won't lie, there are some Thursdays where my kids didn't eat, or if they did, it was McDonald's, but it can be done.

Another tip is when there are opportunities that other parents need help with their kids, like a ride to an activitity, or babysitting occassionally....say "Yes" when you can.  It feels good to help someone else, and when you need help, you know who to call.   Because when you have an active family, no one can do it by themselves.  Its the whole..."Do unto others"  deal.  :)

And finally, when the kids want to join one more club, one more sport, it's okay to say No.  Priorities are important.  And family, school, nutrition, and rest, all need to be considered.  And in my experience, when Mom is burned out, it's not good for anyone. 

T&T ~ Relax!! ~ Whitney

Okay so this morning I completely flaked on Tips & Tricks Tuesday. Ugh!!

So with that mishap and with all the running/chaos of my long weekend (that's right I even had a 3 day weekend!) I've decided that the perfect tip I can give you this week is to take time and RELAX. 

Seriously. This is me: 

95% of the time I am the girl on the left - trying to do everything and making a mess of most of it. I always forget to take time for myself just to relax and unwind. 

So whatever it is you do to relax... 

Reading 

Running

Napping

Or even just taking a few to enjoy a good ol' cup of Joe

Take some time each day to relax, unwind and refocus.

Comment or like us on Facebook & tell us what you do to unwind!

Love peace & prayers! 

T&T ~ Homemade Eye Cream ~ Whitney

Okay so if you're like me you may have some *laugh~happies (aka wrinkles) around your eyes.  You may also be like me if you absolutely HATE that word, hence the term "laugh~happies"  It helps me remember that I have those little lines because I laugh, a lot which means I have amazing people in my life (and that I'm so gosh darn funny!!)

With that being said, I also hate chemicals, meaning store bought eye serums & creams are out of the question.  My solution to this dilemma...homemade eye cream.  It is super easy, organic & completely chemical free! How can you not love it already?!

You only need 3 ingredients & 1 container!

The only items you need are organic coconut oil, vitamin E capsules, lavender oil and a container to keep it in.  You can use a baby food jar or a small jelly jar to keep at home.  I like using a contact lens case because it is small & easy to use/carry with you.

1. Scoop out a spoonful of coconut oil

2. Use a safety pin to poke a hold in 2 vitamin E capsules & squeeze contents into mixing bowl

 

3. Add one drop of lavender oil

4. Mix together thoroughly







5. Empty contents into your container
















Afterwards, I put mine in the refrigerator so it can set.  Once it has set up, it does not need to be kept in the fridge unless you use a lower temp coconut oil.  The one I use is medium/high heat so it doesn't liquefy at room temperature.

What eye creams do you use?  Let us know on our Facebook Page

T & T ~ Apple Custard Pie ~ Kara

 Apple Custard Pie

(adapted from this terrific recipe found at http://www.eatboutique.com/2013/02/04/rustic-apple-custard-pies/#.UhLD4z-M7pz )

 So my oldest needed to make an apple dessert for our county fair and his 4H clubs bake auction entry. Each club member was to make an apple dessert to be combined together in a cute little apple crate and auctioned off to raise money for their club

(I know cute, right ?!?).

 I decided we would do some type of mini pie in a mason jar so it would stay intact for the process. I found the above recipe that the author had already adapted herself. My family isn't really a fan of walnuts like the original called for... plus so many allergies and such recently so I just decided to nix the walnut crust. Whats the next best thing? Good, old, faithful graham cracker crust of course :) So I threw together a quick recipe for graham cracker crust simply using a manual food processor to grind up one package of graham crackers, almost an entire stick of butter melted (roughly 6-7 Tablespoons... just enough to moisten), a few shakes of cinnamon and about 1/3c of sugar. Mix it all together until its all moistened but not pic of crust in the bowl). 
                                                                      

                   

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust:                                                           Custard:

one package graham crackers run                                           2 cups sugar

through a food processor until smooth                                   1/4 c all-purpose flour

6-7 Tablespoons melted butter                                               6 large egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar                                                                          1 cup heavy cream

few shakes of cinnamon                                          4 cups diced apples

Then spoon a few spoonfuls into the bottom of 9-10 pint mason jars that should be placed without lids on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Then my son and I realized we needed a way to press the mix into the bottom of the jar tightly.... hmmmm.... I found an old souvenir shot glass so we used that to press all the crust down into the bottoms of the jars. 

    

Take those beautiful baking apples and core, slice, peal and dice them until you have 4 cups 

Next mix the egg yolks, sugar, flour and heavy cream until smooth.. .only a min or so... then add the diced apples and stir to moisten. Spoon mix into the prepared jars until half full. Place the cookie sheet carefully into a 450 oven and bake for 12 min. After 12 min lower the oven temp to 350 and bake another 20 minutes. The custard will be golden brown on its edges when you remove it. Let the entire cookie sheet with jars cool until completely cool before you put the lids on. Honestly I'm not sure how it would turn out if you went ahead and added the lids and let that heat "set" your jar lids.. .maybe you would be able to keep them for longer? .... maybe on my next blog post :) 

Send us your fundraising recipes!

T & T ~ Packing ~ Jennifer

God-willing, this year I will complete my fourth trip to Kakamega, Kenya and back again. There are lots and lots of packing tips and tricks out there, but I thought I’d share some of my favorites that I’ve learned over the years, especially for long international travel.

First, the clothes. I had read this tip myself online and just never believed it could be true until the time I had to pack my husband for a three week trip to India in one suitcase including nice business clothes and sightseeing clothes and all the shoes that go with them. Roll your clothes. You will not be sorry. They really do stay much neater this way. The only time this has not worked out as well was when I had a nearly empty suitcase. For best results, iron everything first. Take each outfit and fold the pants in half and place the shirt on top and fold to match the sizing. You can also keep them full length and lay the shirt face down and fold back the sleeves. Place undergarments and socks under the shirt and roll from the bottom. That’s it. When you get there your whole outfit is all together and pretty tidy too. Pack shoes in what would be the bottom of your suitcase when it’s standing so that your shoes are not on top of your clothes. Some people place shoes in shower caps and things like that to keep them off their clothes but that’s never been necessary for me.

iron & neatly arrange outfits

rolled outfit

This brings me to my next tip and one of my ultimate must haves for travel…..

Downy wrinkle spray. I absolutely love this stuff. You take out an outfit the night before you’re going to wear it (or you can do this to all outfits upfront if you’re that type of person and have room to hang a lot) spray it down and hang. Next morning, it looks fresh again and smells fresh too. It’s great for places that don’t have irons, or reliable electricity.  

Another product not many people seem to know about is spray for the toilet. I have used it by the name Poof and Poo-pourri. This stuff is great when you have to room with someone, no matter how close you are.

This product is great for when you have to go but don't want to leave offensive odors!

Also, when packing clothes, if you’re traveling with a friend it’s never a bad idea to swap a couple of outfits into each other’s suitcases so that if one gets lost you still have something to wear until your luggage can be found.  

And of course, it never hurts to be creative when choosing outfits. Picking a couple solid colored bottoms that can go with multiple tops will save you loads of room.

Know your airline’s baggage policy well. 

We had an issue last year when flying an airline we had never flown before. Each year we have been able to bring a carry-on sized bag as well as a personal item, which has always been a backpack. This has always helped us fit as much as possible into our checked bags where we often carry ministry supplies. This particular airline (I’ll be nice and not dish names as much as I want to) decided that our personal items were indeed not considered personal items, and those of us who did not make it on board before an ornery gate attendant stopped us, were charged $200 to check bags. It was an expensive mistake.

That incident caused a lot of unnecessary stress!

I’ll finish up with tips for the plane ride. If you have a long flight ahead of you, unless you have to be dressed up, wear something comfortable that stretches and has layers too. A light jacket and socks have been lifesavers more than once.

Stay hydrated, especially on long flights, and do those silly seat exercises too. Both can help you feel refreshed and help with leg swelling. Also, do your best to get on the same sleep schedule as your destination. You can use melatonin or another sleep aid to help you get there. Sometimes we’ve left at 5pm local time and had to try to sleep within a couple of hours. A good neck pillow, pair of headphones, and comfortable clothes are priceless.  

Of course good traveling companions are too.

My most important tip of all, always expect and do your best to prepare for, the unexpected. Happy are the adaptable.

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