It's Alive!!!

I'm a terrible pack rat! I admit it! I am okay with throwing away my own stuff but my kids stuff, that is the hardest things for me to let go of. I have eight years between my two daughters so, if I was a normal human being I shouldn't have that much stuff from my oldest. But I'm not a normal human, I'm a toy hoarder.

I kept just about every toy my oldest has ever owned. It all came in handy when I babysat my friends' twin girls. Then those toys were outgrown all over again and put away.

Now my youngest is really starting to play with toys. I brought out the baby toys again and all the Little People. I was so happy to still have all these toys in such great condition. Most just needed a good scrubbing but there were some that needed a bit more love.

One of the biggest issues were battery erosion. I made the mistake of leaving batteries in a few toys and the exploded. The worst case was the Little People Plane.

I took a magic eraser to the outside on the white areas. My oldest had gotten Sharpie on the face which I got off with some rubbing alcohol. Then I went to add the batteries.

I took one look at the bottom and went "Oh no..." There was crusted battery acid on the outside which had rusted everything. The nasty battery acid that was all rusty leaked all over one wing. (I was wondering why one wing was discolored.) When I opened it up, my first impression was the plane was a goner. But with some work I was able to clear off enough of the rust crusted on battery acid to get it to work and I cleaned off any leaked rust.

I used rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab and held it against the connecter. It took it off a little bit but I didn't feel like it was doing the job. So I went to old faithful...vinegar. I did the same thing. I held a cotton swab soaked in vinegar again the connector for a while. Then I used a flat head screw driver and chipped away at it. Then I cleaned it with more vinegar. It did just enough for it to work again.

So don't throw away that toy just yet. Give it a second chance at life. Try  cleaning it with a little vinegar and some elbow grease.

Healthy Alternative: Soda

Here is my first Healthy Alternative post. I'm very excited to share this new journey with you. I am hoping you find my reviews useful when deciding what recipes and products work best for you.

My first Healthy Alternative is a product. It makes a good soda alternative. Sparkling Ice is a naturally flavored sparkling mountain spring water that has zero calories. It contains vitamins and antioxidants. Looking at the nutrition facts on the back of the bottle, I was surprised.

In comparison to my caffeine free Pepsi which has 150 calories per serving, 30mg of sodium, and 41g of Carbohydrates. Sparkling has none of any of those bad things. In fact it has vitamins D, B3, B6, B12, B5, and Biotin. The Pepsi contains things like high fructose corn syrup and Sparkling Ice has juices to sweeten the taste.

I had the Coconut Pineapple flavor which was pretty tasty. Would of been better if there was rum in it but still it was a great refreshing carbonated drink. There was green tea extract in there as well which gives it that antioxidants boost. The only problem I found with it was it had yellow #5 and yellow #6 in it. These are the same dyes that are why I have stopped eating the US version of Kraft Mac and Cheese. I failed to read the whole label before buying and drinking.

There are plenty more flavors to try which I plan on doing and I will continue to post my reviews on those and other healthy alternatives.

Thank you for reading. Comment below with any suggests on healthy alternative for me to try.

Summer is coming to an end but I'm beginning something new!

This summer was a great summer because I got to have so many great first experience with Freya and I got to share something I loved as a kid with my family.

As the summer ends and fall will soon begin I found the need to make a change. Being out so often this summer we ate terrible. We ate more take out, drank more soda, just had terrible eating habits. It was time we change that.

I have purposed we, as a family, try to find healthy alternative as often as we can. I enjoy the food I eat so I don't want to stop eating them. But a healthy alternative is an adjustment I can make.

I want to share with you my reviews on products and recipes that are healthy alternative and tell you what actually worked for me.

I will be making a special post when I find something and it will be labeled Healthy Alternative.

I would also love some suggestions from you. So leave comments either below or on any Healthy Alternative post.