Guest Day Thursday: Hot Lunch Tip

We are so excited to have be able to share a great tip with you today (I know, don't faint, we have posted something 2 days in a row, but today's was pretty much a cheat since all we had to do was copy and paste. Hey! What do ya know it's even Thursday today, so I guess we can still call it Guest Day Thursday, hehehe). While blogstalking Teri ran onto this tip and thought it was such a great idea, she asked Don immediately if he would share it with you! He agreed, and so enjoy his great tip for homemade "hot" lunches!

Hi, I'm Don Carey, a full-time software engineer, part-time author, and over-time husband and father. I want to thank the 2 Sisters for inviting me to be a guest on this blog. I'm excited to share our handy little trick for sending hot lunches from home to school and work.

Both of our girls have food allergies, so when our oldest started kindergarten nearly eight years ago, we thought it would be best to send lunches from home. Not wanting to go the soggy sandwich on stale bread route, we came up with a system for sending hot lunches, and it has served us well.

The first thing I do in the morning is boil water in the teapot. Today's lunch menu is tortellini soup, so I also started some water in a second pot.

Once the water in the teapot boils, I pour it into our trusty little thermoses - one for each of the girls. There's usually one for me, too - no need to make lunch twice. But today I decided to pass on the tortellini soup in favor of left-over pizza in the fridge. Yum!

While the boiling water heats the thermoses, I make breakfast and heat lunch - either on the stove, or in our handy little toaster oven. This is also when I nag the sleepyheads.

Yum! Tortellini!

Now mix in the soup.

I empty the water and fill the thermoses with hot food. We usually try to plan our dinners so there are leftovers to use in lunches. Soup, stew, chili, and pasta dishes all work great. We've had mixed results with nuggets and burritos - they stay warm, but tend to get soggy.

Casseroles all work very well. Except for tuna casserole, which is never good. Ick! Yuck! Blech!

I then pack the thermos in an insulated lunch box with the sides, snacks, utensils, and a bottle of water. Today's menu includes goldfish, grapes, a granola bar, and bunny-shaped sugar cookies, just in case you were wondering.

All in 30 minutes or less. My only fear with this method is that one day I'll accidentally forget to fill the thermoses and send my children to school with nothing but hot water for lunch. But so far, so good.

My youngest still asks for hot lunch at school once in a while as a treat, but the 7th grader insists I pack her lunch every day so she doesn't have to wait in the long cafeteria lines. And she insists the food is better, too.

Anyone Interested?

We are looking for guests to feature on our Guest Day Thursdays or Tales of a Shared Womb. We would love to feature you. Just leave us a comment or shoot us an email if you are interested.

Guest Day Thursday: Crafty Sisters

We would like to welcome our guests today. They have a great blog called Crafty Sisters where they feature all kinds of really fun tutorials, projects, copy cat projects and power tool reviews (and pretty unique pets too).
Take it away ladies!

Hi, we're Nicole and Candace from Crafty Sisters!

We are so excited to guest post on 2 Sisters today!

Thanks so much for inviting us!

We are both lucky enough to be Stay at Home Moms.

Candace has four wonderful crazy little boys

and Nicole has a beautiful fun energectic little girl.

Our Husbands=NOT handy...so we became handy ourselves.

We love to decorate our homes- especially for the Holidays!

Here are a few of our latest Easter projects.

Even though it's a month away, we couldn't help but start early.

We love getting together and making things.

We are pretty fearless when it comes to using all sorts of power tools!

We love to revamp furniture. There's nothing like taking an ugly thrift store find and making it beautiful again. We have tried making some good knock-offs too!

We love to dabble in a lot of different things from crafty fluff with felt, sewing and fabrics to our

projects with wood and furniture redo's.

We consider ourselves "die-hard" Crafters!:)

While Candace is busy with her furniture renovations,

Nicole is busy with her little wood craft business that she sells on Etsy and teaches classes locally.

We love learning and sharing what we do.

It makes us happy and we hope that we inspire too!

Thanks so much for inviting us over and allowing us to share a little bit of ourselves.

Thanks Teri and Micki!!

THANKS LADIES!!!

Guest Day Thursday: Teri from Mama Thompson

2 sisters 2gether welcomes….

Hi...I'm Teri...(not this Teri:)...Mama Thompson Teri...and I am very excited to be guest posting here at 2sisters 2gether...I just love these girls and all the great stuff they do

(and not just because one of them is a Teri...although that can't hurt right?).

I'm a stay at home mama to one adorably cute and way too smart almost 3 year-old. I have been blogging for the past couple of years documenting the life of my cute Lil D (Life as a Thompson)...but decided back in September that I needed a place to document all the things that I love to do.

And thus began Mama Thompson.

I love trying new things...I love anything I can create with my own 2 hands...but what I LOVE most...is the satisfaction of seeing something and then making or doing it on my own. Whether it's a new recipe, a craft or decor for my home, a piece of jewelry or a total room makeover...I want to try it. Mama Thompson is the person that I strive to be...a better mom, wife, and homemaker...a "Mama" in every sense of the word.

If you feel the need to head on over to my neck of the woods (which I hear is just a few hours north of 1 of these sisters),

you will find...

"All the things I do in a day...well...when the (almost) 3 year-old let's me"

Jewelry

I also have an etsy shop, T's ETC

(I can make a shameless plug here right?:)

Furniture makeovers

Decor for Lil D

Decor for the home and holidays

What we eat (a variety of recipes)

and my favorite thing to do when I get the chance,

crafts

currently though...I'm doing lots of room makeovers...

(I am redoing 80% of my home from the basement up)

So that's me...just a mama...who likes to do well...

stuff!

Isn’t she great? We love to visit her blog (and it isn’t even because she has a great name). You need to be sure to read about the month she didn’t eat out AT ALL, her play makeup for little girls, and her darling version of the oh so popular ornament wreath. Thanks Teri for guesting here today (and shameless plugs are just fine here).

Guest Day Thursday: Kathy from Creative Home Expressions

Our guest blogger today is Kathy from Creative Home Expressions. She is and interior designer by trade and a blogger extraordinaire! She has had a couple of snow days lately (we don’t even know what those are here), and has been able to work on a couple of projects (lucky her). Here she is today to share a fun project with our readers! Thank you so much Kathy!!!

I’m thrilled to be a guest blogger at 2Sisters 2gether! Thank you Teri and Micki! In keeping with a project that is also home decor related, I thought I’d share a quick coaster project.

I had purchased this package of six coasters at Michaels from their $1.00 bins thinking that I could use them in another way {which I did, but that’s for another upcoming post}. They are labeled as “paper coasters”, but are cardboard. I had one left that I didn’t use.

I bought these napkins at TJ Maxx {or Marshalls ~ one of the two} with my first name initial.

Since I have reset myself up at the desk in our living room {another future post}, I realized I needed a coaster for my coffee while I’m reading so many awe-inspiring blogs in the morning. Actually, hubby said, “you should put something under your cup so it’s not right on the desk”. Sheesh!

So I took my extra coaster and one of my “K” napkins; and a little Mod Podge, and set to work to make myself a pretty coaster.

These napkins are smaller than the white ones with the monogram in black, like the one I did here on a plate, so they didn’t fit the full round of the coaster.

I added some scrap book paper first as a base, then cut out the “K” with some of the design to fit on top of that. You are only using the top layer of the napkin, so you’ll need to be careful. I just put Mod Podge on the coaster base and applied the napkin right on top. When that was dry, I put a coat of Mod Podge over the whole thing.

Then, once everything was dry, I sprayed it with some polyurethane spray for protection.

Now I have a coaster for my coffee cup that matches my living room and hubby doesn’t have to turn into me and “suggest” I put something under my cup!

Teri has a Diet Coke that totally needs this! Thanks again Kathy! (Can you believe this is her first guest post?).

Guest Day Thursday: Fabulous Jane

We would like you all to give a warm welcome to our guest host today! Her name is Jane and she is FABULOUS!

She is hosting our 100th post!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen....this is our 100th post!!!

Take it away Jane!

Hey guys, Jane here from Finding Fabulous! That's me above with kid 1 & 2 who are just the very center of my universe! Okay, I'm pretty fond of the white furry guy too! I'm so excited to be guest hosting over at 2 Sisters 2Gether, they are so fun...I just love all their fabulous crafty projects and yummy recipes too!

Well my blog Finding Fabulous pretty much describes itself. I'm all about finding fabulous design...on a budget, for less, without breakin' the bank! Yup, no need to spend a ton of money if your looking to spruce up your home. Here's a peek at some of my projects:

Here's my Wrought Iron moulding project above our bed! For this project I framed out the wrought iron wall hanging with simple trim moulding. And talk about thrifty...the iron piece was just $25 and the moulding under $10. And for under $40, I've got a big focal point with some much needed heighth and drama to an otherwise simple bed!

Did you know you can buy Wine Crates at Total Wine for about $5 each? Yup, just 5 bucks! I gave my crates an aged appearance by staining them. Super easy, super fun and aren't they fabulous for above hutches and armoires?

Do you need new picture frames? Do not, I repeat, do not go out and buy new ones! Go find some old ones (either from your attic or your local Thrift Store) and spray paint them. Here I used Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint for the frame on the far right. I confess, I love ORB spray paint...this stuff rocks!

Here are a pair of antique chairs that have been in my husband's family for at least 100 years. They used to be covered in leather and were in bad shape. I recovered them in this fun fabric I found at Garden Ridge for just $5.99 for two yards.

Okay, I have a confession...I'm not real Crafty, but more of a roll up your sleeves Diy kinda gal. But every now and then I pull it off. Here's my twine wrapped wine bottle. I got this idea from the Thrifty Decor Chic, but used a large wine bottle as the base. This project was super easy, super fun and you can't get any thriftier than making home accessories with items from your recycling bin!

And finally here's my thrifty home office! Instead of going with a bulky, overpriced executive desk (those babies go for 2 thousand dollars or more!). I chose to use a dining room table instead from World Market! The price was right, I loved the clean lines, and the desktop work space was HUGE! Oh and those fabulous botanical prints were FREE! Yup, free from an on-line website called Vintage Printables!

Okay, so there you have it, Finding Fabulous in a nutshell! I hope you like my projects and feel inspired to go revamp something in your home! It doesn't take a lot of money, or even any talent, just a "think outside the box" mindset, and a little creativity!

Oh and be sure to check out my day Frugalicious Friday! This day's all about sharing your fabulous, thriftiest, most frugalicious home decor finds and design projects! And give us the scoop on how you $ave!

Thanks again to the 2 Sisters for allowing me to be a guest host today...you crafty girls rock!

Thanks so much Jane! We love her blog, always full of fun decor items that don't break the bank. We love to link up to Frugalicious Friday, it's so fun to see all the money saving items and projects out there!

Keep yours eyes peeled ladies and gentlemen.....we have a surprise planned to celebrate our 100th post!

Guest Day Thursday: Mr. H’s Birdfeeder (Teri)

My darling husband, Mr. H., loves to watch birds and we have had a couple of birdfeeders hanging up in the backyard that my kids made from recycled water bottles. We live in a rented condo and so he wanted something fun to watch out our kitchen window (looking out the back window, I’m sure you can see why). He found the plans for this bird-feeding station in Nature’s Garden Magazine. He added a suet feeder and a hummingbird feeder so we can attract different kids of birds.

Here’s the view from my back window:

Here’s a little friend I was able to catch from my back window. He’s a House Finch.

Want to know what those weird round things are, come back on Monday and find out.

Guest Day Thursday: Shannon the seamstress (Micki)

My sister in law, Shannon, is a wonderful seamstress. Before getting her job outside the home, she sewed for a living. She makes anything from bags, to shopping cart covers, to beautiful outfits for little girls. She is one of the most talented people I know. We are just beginner crafters compared to a lot of the people we know. Here are some pics of some of her beautiful work:
A darling purse she made for herself






Cart Covers (the second one even has a matching diaper bag):

Guest Day Thursday: More Quilts (Teri)

Remember these gorgeous quilts from last Thursday? Well here’s part two! During the last year or so, for their birthdays, the grandkids have all received quilts. Each focused on their favorite theme and was made to fit a twin sized bed. (Please don’t hate me because my in-laws are so awesome!)

If you missed last weeks installment of the quilts, I’ll give a quick recap. My in-laws are amazing quilters. I do have to edit a little from what I told you last week. My father-in-law did all of the hand appliqué on the blocks, and my mother-in-law has done all the piecing of the tops with the exception of my darling son’s, which my father-in-law did the top in it’s entirety. My mother-in-law then HAND quilts each one and binds the edges. Yes I did say they are HAND appliquéd and HAND quilted. Each one takes an enormous amount of time and love. Be sure you click here if you missed last week.

Here are the quilts they made for the grandkids, my kids quilts are the first two.

My daughter loves bright colors and bugs.

My son adores trains, and look at the darling sports balls the train is hauling, he loves any kind of sports ball.

My oldest niece has a beach themed room. Don’t you want to put your swim suit on and go for a dip?

I love the fabrics they picked for my oldest nephews lizard quilt. Aren’t these great reptiles?

My next niece (lizard boy’s twin, how cool is that, another set of twins in my family), LOVES Tinkerbell.

This Ancient Egypt themed quilt was made for my second nephew who is fascinated by this theme. The center panel was cross-stitched by my father-in-law and then my mother in law designed the rest of the top around it.

this darling canine quilt was made for the Pharaoh's sister. I think she will make a great Vet some day, she loves dogs and all animals as well.

This darling Spring themed quilt was made for my youngest niece. She has more of a pastel room than my daughter, and her mom loves frogs. Doesn’t it make you want to get outside?

This one was made for the current baby of the family (although that baby is almost three). He is a fisherman and loves anything fish related. I just think this is the cutest thing ever.

Thank you Mom and Dad for letting me feature your beautiful work. It’s amazing!!! You are both so talented and have put so much work into the homemade gifts that you give all of us. Don’t think your hard work goes unappreciated. I am particularly glad that you took me under your “craft wing” and taught me how to fly. You were the first to encourage me creatively, and I still look to your for inspiration.