It's Official - Driving Princess Four

I can't believe that I only have one more princess to teach to drive. Actually, her driving permit isn't all that far away. 

Princess Four always joked to her sisters that she would be the fist to get her license as soon as she could and they all waited to get theirs for various reasons. 


Well, she got her permit but as soon as she started driving, she realized it wasn't all fun and games and there was some responsibility with the situation and just stopped driving. 

Most of our driving is around town which consists of about three stoplights and five minutes either direction so there isn't much opportunity to get driving time unless we leave town. However, with all her activities, she didn't have much time to go on our out of town trips so getting her driving training hours in took FOREVER! 

Also, she had to drive with an instructor a few times and with her dance schedule, she couldn't get the drive time in with him either which left her waiting for a long time to be able to take the drivers test. She took the drivers education class a long time ago and then took her permit test a long time ago as well so I finally pushed her to get it all done so she can drive herself to college! :-) 

Actually, she needs to be able to drive herself and Princess Five around while I go see my new grand-daughter! So, it is official, she is now legal to drive and as you can see, she is happy to be able to do that. She took the car that night to play practice and I was THRILLED to be able to stay home and take a bath not having to worry about being ready to give them a ride home. 

I think I am going to like having her drive for the half year I have her before she heads to college. I have a full year plus for Princess Five to be able to drive herself but just under a year before she can start doing her driving hours. 

Yahoo for having drivers besides me at home! I have missed that. If you see her around town, smile and wave.

Ultra Bright Head Light

I bought some stuff in the car section to brighten up my car headlights as they were somewhat scratched up and I wanted to get more light through them. 


Just after purchasing a buffer kit for the lights, I saw somewhere that you can use toothpaste to polish your headlights on your car. 

I thought I would give that a try and save myself the $14 on the kit I purchased. 

I think it has to be the regular toothpaste and not the gel but what do I know. So, I used our "Ultrabrite" toothpast on the headlight. 

It is kinda hard to see on these pictures unless you blow them up bigger just what it did do but I just used paper towels and rubbed some toothpaste on the cover to the headlight and buffed it up with some paper towel and then a bit more and then just washed the toothpaste off the headlight and was amazed at what came off. 


It was weird though that on one light, the towel came away with brownish color on it and on the other headlight, it came off grey and dirty. I am not sure how one could be so much different but perhaps more mud was on one side and just bugs or something on the other side.


I do think it worked and is brighter than it was before. It amazes me what people will come up with and wonder who the first person to try it came up with the idea. Like I go around thinking to myself, "Hmm, I wonder what the headlight will look like if I rub some toothpaste on it?" 


I am glad someone figures these things out and shares them so I can save myself some money. It didn't take long to polish them both up and get them looking shiny and bright. I would have to say they are ULTRA BRIGHT, and not just because of the toothpaste brand I used! :-)

Beanie Hat for Man or Woman Made Out of Sweater

We had a friend give us a bag of clothes for the girls a month or so ago. The girls went through the clothes to see if there was anything they wanted to keep. 

There were some sweaters that they weren't interested in keeping but the colors on the sweaters were so cute that I thought they would make some cute "ghetto" beanie hats. I asked the girls if they would like the buttons on them 


The girls wanted just the hat and no decorations or ribbing on the edges. So, I didn't have to do much work to make these things. Basically, find a sweater that you think has a good pattern or yarn texture. 

You need to decide how long and gangsta or ghetto you want your beanie to be. They didn't want them to be really long so it was even easier. 


The way to make it without two seams, is to measure the back of the sweater to your head. If the front has a zipper or seam it makes it hard to use without seams. If the back (from side seam to side seam) fits around your head, then you can fold the sweater with right sides together matching the side seams and start sewing. 


You have to sew the seams before you cut them so that the knit doesn't unravel. I sewed a straight seam just inside the side seam. Then, once the seam is sewn straight, cut the sweater on the outer-side of the seam. Once you have it cut, you want to zig-zag the edges so they don't fray. 
 
Measure how long you want the hat once you have the tube made. When you decide how long you want it, sew the edge the same way you did the seam. Cut it and then zig-zag the edges the same way you did the side seam. 
 
Use some string of a similar color to gather the sewn seam for the top. Once it is gathered, tie it off.
 
You can make the hat as long as the sweater which can be quite long for most adult sweaters. 
 
I liked the colors on this one but have a few more that I want to try and make into beanies.

It seems that the style is getting longer and longer. 

If the sweater has a ribbed bottom, you can use that for the band on the beanie. 
 
You can get two to four hats off each sweater depending on how long and wide you want them. If the front is a split front with buttons or zippers, you will have to make side seams which isn't as cute so if you are picking out a sweater to make more than one beanie, I would suggest a sweater that isn't a button or zip up and has a solid front and back.   

Teak Oil Treasure - Trailer Waxing With Ease

I posted about using Teak oil on my trailer to polish it up a few months ago but didn't get to finish the trailer due to bad weather. 

Over the past few days, it has been nice in the afternoons and I really want to get the trailer finished so I went out this afternoon and worked on it. Because the Teak Oil takes off the oxidation, when you first put it on the trailer, it takes off the oxidized paint so if I use the cloth on the colored area and then go onto the lighter sides, it will pull the darker color onto the off-white paint so I had to do the colored area separately.

I wanted to post about this again because I am AMAZED and how quickly the stuff works at shining up the trailer and how well it takes off the oxidation. I wish I had taken a picture of the other side where the wax was in the post where I talked about the Teak Oil verses the wax. Click here for that post. The waxed area was showing signs of wear in a few spots. I think where I buffed it more, there was still a shine but in a few areas where I put the wax but didn't rub it in as much, it was dulling and obvious.
 
I had Princess Five take these photos as the oil on my hands was sticky due to the cold air and the trailer was a bit cold but you can see even in the cold temperature, the oil worked great at shining up the sides of the trailer and you can even see how well it worked on the white sides due to the sun's angle. 

I called Princess to bring the camera out and take these for me so you could really see how well the oil works even on the white. It is amazing to me how it cleans off the dirty stuff. like scratches, grease, and other dirt. You do have to rub it a few times to get it off but compared to how much you have to rub to wax one area, it is like three rubs to get off the dirt versus 25 to buff it using the wax. 
 
 You can see clearly where I used the oil at the back of the trailer near the "Nomad" sign and where I didn't use it. You can also see below the colored area, how some of the colored oxidation gets on the white sides. After Princess left with the pictures, I just used a clean paper towel with oil on it and wiped the colored stuff off the white sides and it came right off. 

Where I used the Teak Oil on the door and trailer sides, looks so much better than the rest of the trailer and the waxed area. I just did a quick and easy coat on some of it for that post and then with the snow, never got back to it. 

I figured if I finish the side of the trailer that is in the sun and then turn the trailer around, I can finish the other side of the trailer in the warm sun and then get it put away finally. 

I also used the Teak Oil on the widow edge guards and wheel well covers and it shined and cleaned them up nicely. It works so well I am going to try using it on my car next. Just want the trailer done first. I'll post about the car to show you how it works out when I do!

I wanted to show you how well the Teak Oil worked on the fiberglass cover on the trailer. It has been a few months with lots of snow and cold wet weather. I posted about it here a few months ago. I think it looks GREAT still and much better than before I put the oil on it. This is the original coat, I never put a second coat on. Just wanted you to see how it still looks great.

Also, the Teak Oil is fast. I only had about an hour of sun after the dance competition and I got the colored parts, window edges, vents, wheel well covers and a few "signs" on the side and back. With a few more hours, I could get the side done and maybe the back. If I could get some help, I could probably get it done in an afternoon but with the girls having dance everyday after school, it probably won't happen. I'll slowly get it done. I am just happy I am not using wax to do it!

Duct or Duck Tape Wallet Part 2

I showed you the wallet Princess Three made after seeing the one Princess One made years ago. This one I found at a Duck Tape display. Someone had made a few items and put them on the top of the display to help sell the tape. It had the "Sticky Velcro" on the top inside flap and on the front so the wallet could close but I think the velcro would probably pull off with much use. However, I think you could probably use big stitches and sew the velcro on the wallet. I thought the color scheme they used was creative and it was a cute project.

Or, you could just take a used wallet or an old one you have and just cover it with tape. Either way, it would work but I think covering the older wallet may prove to work better for the clasp situation.

Thanks for being patient with me while I spend time with Princess One and the grand-baby! I'll post pictures soon. 

I know you probably aren't as excited about this as I am but I am praying mom and baby both come out well and we get to enjoy both!

Oh, by the way, Happy Valentines day! Hoping you are spending it with someone you love. I sure hope I am spending it with Grand-princess ONE!

Duck or Duct Tape Hat

Here is the third shortest post. The things people will cover with Duck Tape. This hat was covered with Camo Duck Tape. It was at the store as an idea as to what you could do with the tape. It is just a baseball cap and they covered it with the camouflage  tape but then after trying to hide in the bushes with the camo hat, they put BRIGHT orange on the inside so as long as they didn't need to take it off and wipe the sweat that would come due to the hat not being able to let your head breathe, they would be hidden.

Once they take it off (as I can only imagine it would be like wearing a plastic bag on your head), everyone would then see them with their orange liner.

I guess if you got lost, you could just take the orange tape out and use it to flag down the rescue plane once the launched the search party. :-)

My guess is after they put all that tape on there, they put it on and realized how stupid that idea was and it didn't look worn so I think they figured that one out fairly quickly.

If I were going to put tape on a hat, I think I would do a cowboy hat and just do the rim. Could be cute if done right.

I would skip doing this unless you just did it for a craft and took a group picture or something. I don't think it would be comfortable or useful. If the tape on the sides worked loose, anyone with hair would have it getting stuck and pulled and I am guessing with the sweat on the forehead, the tape would start to come off and roll.

Worse yet, wear it on a hot day and you may end up with a sticky ring on your head or in your hair as the tape melts. No, not the best idea someone had.

Duct or Duck Tape Lamp Shade

This may be the Second shortest post I have ever made but still, another one I thought was quite funny.

Someone covered their lamp shade with Duck Tape. Yes, it is quite stylish but a shade is to help you direct the light to where you want the light. Down and out. With the thick cover of tape on the shade, I can't imagine much light getting through that thick shade.

I just had a little vision of someone covering everything in their room with Duck Tape. Matching colors and pattern and it could be really cute. I wonder if anyone has tried it? You could even cover your cork board with it.

Well, I did a search and just got side tracked for 1/2 hour so this post wasn't so quick after all. I didn't find anything about a room done in Duck tape other than an extreme makeover but I never did find pictures just lots of comments about it. There was someone that did a little room for a dollhouse using it which was cute for a child to do  which had a video on youtube. But mostly, it was just home decor items that they had or purchased second hand that they recovered.

So, if you want to waste an hour of your life, do a search on "Duck Tape room" online, there were LOTS of things to see. Happy searching!