Monday Made It and Last Chance for Giveaway!

I am linking up for Monday Made It with two projects. I love Monday Made It! Thanks again, Tara, for the wonderful chance to share ideas and get inspired. My first MMI is a recipe, not really a project. But divine.The second is a little, really easy and effective calming-down device.


The heat here has been unbearable. REALLY hot. Imagine, then, my shock when my kids asked me to make banana bread last night. Banana bread??!  Being the sucker great mom that I am, I did make them a couple of loaves. However, I waited until 10 pm when it was a lot cooler. :)

I completely forgot to take pictures as I went along, but took these when I was ready to put them in the oven:

You can see my "recipe book" aka laptop in the background and some of the ingredients I used. I also added chocolate chips...lots of chocolate chips.

I mixed the squashed bananas, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking soda and margarine together in a mixing bowl. I then added the flour and chocolate chips and stirred just enough to mix the ingredients and moisten the flour. 

Into the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

Out comes D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S-N-E-S-S. Ooey gooey yuminess.

So good, in fact, that my nine year old son took a piece before I could take a picture :)

{click HERE for the recipe}

I made TWO loaves and they lasted until breakfast. Yup. They ARE that great. We ate them with a little butter, cheese and tea. Perfect snack/breakfast.

My second Monday Made It is a project I've been wanting to do for a while. It's a RELAX bottle/ MIND JAR.  I first saw it on Pinterest and was immediately intrigued. What a fantastic idea for those kids who might need a little quiet time. 

First, you need a container with lid (I chose plastic), glitter glue, glitter, water, and super glue. That's it.

To the HOT water add the glitter glue (2 tablespoons) and the glitter. Mix it up really well. I used a little wire whisk. I also used boiling water and figured out how much I'd need by filling the little bottle up ALMOST all the way and then pouring this water back into the measuring cup.

Pour this mixture into the bottle that you have chosen. See how the glitter has already settled to the bottom? Use super glue or hot glue to glue the cap on.

The purpose of the RELAX bottle is to give kids a chance to calm down if they are having a difficult time. Kids watch the glitter settle and as they do, they slowly start to calm down.On average it takes about 5 minutes for the glitter to make its way to the bottom of the bottle.

Last year I had some difficult behaviours in my class, and could have really used this bottle. I am very excited to try it out with the kids. Maybe I'll get Logan to test it next time he needs some quiet time...

Ahhhhh...watching the serene blue glitter slowly descend is making me feel so peaceful. {smiles} I am going to add ribbon to the lid to decorate it up and perhaps the word RELAX on the side. What do you think?

REMINDER:  The giveaway that I am hosting ends tomorrow at midnight. Don't forget to enter!