Dip Dyed Reusable Canvas Bags

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. We all recognize the three "R"s that we learned in grade school. Earth Day is around the corner and its time to get thinking about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Using recycled cotton canvas bags while shopping is a great way to reduce our waste while doing routine activities. These bags are sturdy enough for the heaviest groceries, and are 100% reusable and machine washable. I dip-dyed a few of my favorite canvas totes to add a little color and fun into my shopping routine, and today I'm sharing them with you.

 

Canvas bags don't have to be boring. Being made from 100% cotton means that these bags can be dyed, decorated, and otherwise customized to fit your personality. I chose to dip-dye my bags with an ombre effect in two different colors. These fun, vibrant bags are great for taking along to the grocery store, to the Farmer's Market, or even packing up to take to a picnic in the park.

I started shopping with reusable bags because I was sick of the waste from one-time use plastic bags.  Shopping with reusable bags is becoming a way of life for many Californians. While the state can't agree on a unified plastic bag ban, many cities in California have adopted bans on plastic grocery bags. My town adopted a plastic bag ban in January 2014, meaning they stopped providing plastic bags to customers and charge 10 cents per paper bag and offer reusable bags at most registers for a fee.

Who wants to pay more at the grocery store? I sure don't!

Meal Plan Monday - April #2

I'm so thankful to be back to the daily grind after Spring Break! While my teenager might not feel the same way, I need to get back to my regular routine. I allowed myself to sleep in an extra hour all of last week, and then I was kicking myself about losing that extra hour. Since I'm not a morning person, I need the motivation of getting the kids to school to get up early. As the school year comes to a close, my next thought is: How am I ever going to survive the summer?

Getting meal planning scheduled gets me ahead during the week, especially when I stick to a consistent routine. I can grocery shop for the week in one trip, and stock my freezer and pantry accordingly. It also allows me to think ahead so I'm not rushing about at 5:30 trying to figure out how to feed my family before the "I'm Hungry" grumbling starts.

Iced Green Tea with Ginger Mint Syrup

Warmer weather is the all that I need spend more time outdoors, and entertaining is the perfect excuse to create fun drink to share with all of our friends. When I think of drinks to entertain with, I think of light and refreshing sippers that can be enjoyed outside. Iced green tea with ginger mint simple syrup is one of those drinks. It balances green tea with the stimulating flavors of ginger and mint, making it mandatory for your summer gatherings. Try the ginger mint simple syrup with more than just green tea, it is sublime over berries and would make an intoxicating combination paired with fresh-squeezed lemonade. 

 

 

Get the Best Sleep of your Life: 6 Healthy Sleep Tips

Sleep can set the routine for the whole day. Waking alert and rested can put you in a successful frame of mind, and prepares you to tackle the day. As part of my Get Healthy 2015 series, with collaboration from Casper Mattress, I am sharing some helpful tips to get more restful sleep at night. Being a busy mom and blogger, and naturally a night owl, getting enough sleep isn't an easy task for me. I have incorporated these 6 tips into my daily routine to help ease transition from being awake to falling asleep, to wake up more rested.

*Disclosure: I was asked to write an article on my best sleep tips and tricks for Sleep Awareness Week by a representative at Casper, a sleep start-up company. I was not compensated in any way. This article is written 100% by me and includes my honest opinion that was in no way influenced by a third party. For even more tips to ease you to sleep, visit the blog at Casper.*

Meal Plan Monday - April #1

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter yesterday! We survived our first egg hunt (even with the bit of rain we had) and didn't go candy crazy, but treats were involved. We celebrated with an afternoon full of family and food, and even squeezed in a walk and a nap. The kids are on Spring Break this week, so hopefully I'll have plenty of time to work on my April recipes and projects. Keep an eye out for some drink recipes this month and a craft featuring reusable shopping bags.

Does the warmer weather of spring inspire you to eat lighter? I'm making two meatless meals instead of our usual 1, partly because we all ate too much at yesterday's events. Later this week, I'm trying some pinned recipes featuring fresh and healthy ingredients.

 

Signs of Spring: Favorites from the Spring Craft Blog Hop III, week 3

Easter is this Sunday, hooray! I'm bringing you more featured crafts from the Spring Craft Blog Hop, just in time for Easter. I've shopped for Easter basket goodies, and today we are dying eggs and getting our final touches for Easter Sunday. If you still need some last minute Easter Egg ideas, my friend Christie put together a fabulous round-up of egg projects!
 

  

We're into our third edition of the Spring Craft Blog Hop, our biggest and longest hop of the series. Each week, I will highlight five of the crafts linked up from bloggers around the interwebs. Be sure to stop by the party each week to see all the new crafts that have been linked up, and add your own as well!

Because Easter is this weekend, I decided to share these fun crafts with you, just in time! I know I've mentioned before how much I love link-ups for the chance to meet new bloggers, so this week I'm sharing 4 crafts from bloggers never featured at Creative Mama Messy House before, and some awesome entertaining tips from one of the co-hosts of the Spring Craft Blog Hop.

Spring Green Vegetable Pasta Primavera

Springtime is the perfect time to go back to nature and start eating fresher. In many cities, Farmer's Markets are opening as the weather warms and early spring produce is abundant. To celebrate the season, I created a verdant pasta primavera with all things green and in season right now. I chose a combination of vegetables that I knew my family is willing to eat (kale and snap peas). I also added a vegetable that always gets mixed reviews (cauliflower) and introduced a new vegetable to all (fava beans). Pairing this quartet of green vegetables with something I know everyone in my family will eat (pasta) guaranteed no one would turn their nose up and whine about not wanting to eat.

 

 

I'll admit that my children can be picky. When I first met my older kids 5 years ago, they would not touch zucchini, or bell peppers, or a number of other vegetables that they readily will eat today. Did you know that it can take up to 10 times of a child trying one new food to adjust to a new taste or texture? Children's palettes are constantly adjusting, and its not always a flavor or texture thing, sometimes they are in an uncooperative mood, there is an even number of peas on their plate, the clouds are covering the sun, etc.

As a parent, I used to take their defiance for not eating vegetables personally. I knew that I had cooked them properly, seasoned them well, used my culinary knowledge to make the food palatable, and still they wouldn't eat it. The more I fought back, the less they would eat. So instead of forcing or demanding that foods be eaten, I just keep serving them. Not all the time, and not always the same ones over and over again. The more they are exposed to a certain vegetable, the more likely they are to try it, and sometimes, they might actually like it!