Upcycling

What exactly is upcycling? Upcycling is the process of taking something old and making it new again. Not refurbishing, but rather changing it into something better or different. I have this Holoku Mu'u Mu'u, for those of you on the mainland it is similar to a mermaid dress fitted and then flaring out around the knees.

I loved it pre baby. Post baby, I still love it but it does not love me or the 30 lbs I can't seem to get rid of. May Day is coming up and my daughter needed new aloha wear for her class performance. I picked out some adorable fabric and had grand plans to make a Matilda Jane-esk dress using all aloha print. I choose lots of fun shades of pink and purple. Then I learned that the class color would be blue. Oops. Then I thought of this dress and how I still loved the fabric. So what is a girl to do? Upcycle of course!

I think it turned out amazing!

I'm soo darn excited for May Day now!
Happy Earth Day bloggy world! What can you upcycle today?
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Location:Palai St,Village Park,United States

The Family Minivan

We live in Hawaii, on O'ahu specifically. We have some unique issues especially with parking. When you have a baby in a infant carrier and you drive a regular 4 door vehicle sedan style you have to be able to open the car door all the way open to get that carrier out of the car. In a Hawaiian parking lot that is virtually impossible. Most spots are soo narrow that you have a hard time getting out yourself let alone getting the baby seat out. Now that I have a 5 year old, who has accidentally put door marks in many cars getting herself out of the car, and another infant our old Ford Focus wagon just wasn't cutting it anymore. The upgrade time had come. It's only new to me, and doesn't have all the bells and whistles but its an amazing antistresstimine in my life. I can now haul around the extra kids I need to regularly, and get the baby out without turning into a pretzel. The gas expense I'm not so fond of, but the positives far outweigh that negative.



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Basic bread recipe

L's bread recipe is the first recipe we are going to share because bread is soo important to moms. Toast, sandwiches, and just generally best for filling little bellies.
1and 1/2cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 Tblsp sugar
4 tsp yeast
Sprinkle of salt
5 cups flour
Step 1:
Measure the water in a microwave safe cup or bowl. Heat for 1 minute.
Add coconut milk.

My darling hubby bought me a kitchen-aid mixer and so I use that, however you could do this all by hand, although you should know its a lot of work.
Step 2:
Put the. Sugar, yeast and salt in the mixing bowl, pour milk and water mixture over the dry ingredients.

Let the yeast activate for a couple of minutes till a froth begins to form.
Step 3:
Measure in all 5 cups of flour. Using the Dough hook....

Turn on mixer first to level 1 until you can hear the strain, then move it up to level 2.

Allow it to mix for roughly 8-10 minutes.

I've made so much bread that my mixer bounces around a little so I usually hold it down. If the dough seems to be sticking too much add. Flour 1/4 cup at a time.
Step 4:
take the dough hook out of the dough and remove the bowl from the mixer.


Place the bowl inside a plastic shopping bag and tie closed. Allow to rise for approximately 1/2 hour.


Step 5:
Once dough has doubled in size.


Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface.

Knead dough adding flour as necessary until dough is no longer sticky. Cut dough into 2 equal balls. I use a pizza cutter.
Step 6:
roll out dough to a thickness of about a 1/4 inch in a rectangleoid shape. To make sure it is not too sticky i usually roll a little lift the dough, add flour underneath and flip several times. once you have gotten it thin enough roll the dough into a log shape the length of your loaf pan. I use parchment paper to line the pan. Place dough log in the pan to rise. Allow to rise for about 1 hour.
(Photo was taken after baking it)

Step 7:
carefully place pan in oven at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

The amazing thing about this recipe is that with a few tweaks you can use it for lots of different things. This recipe is going in first because you will need it for many of our other favorites like pretzels, doughnuts, pizza, garlic balls, etc, just wait and see.

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