D-I-Y Notepad

I have been longing for a cute grocery list that is easy to carry to the store.

Usually I just write a list on my phone but who wants to hold the phone in their hand as they are trying to bag produce?  Definitely not me!  It's an unneeded annoyance and I'd rather do without.  

I loved the grocery list that Ellinee shared on her blog but the colors didn't match the theme of my kitchen and I wanted to be able to hang my work proudly on the fridge.  So I asked Chris to help me and this is what we came up with:

I think it is pretty adorable if I do say so myself!

It has mostly everything I get at the grocery store on a regular basis and spots to fill in extra items when they are needed.  This is going to be so much easier than pulling out my phone every time I can't remember the things I need to buy!

If you want to use it (or make your own) here is what you need:

Supplies:

-pdf file to print (download it here (personal use only please!)-- or you can make your own)

-8.5" x 11" paper

-printer

-paper cutter

-glue (I used mod podge)

-heavy books or clothespins 

-clip magnets to hang the pad on the fridge

How to:

1.  Open the pdf file on your computer and make sure your printer is loaded with paper.  Click print and print a test page to make sure everything is aligned properly and you like the way it looks.  

2.  If you love the outcome, go ahead and print as many pages as you'd like!  I printed twenty so I ended up with forty individual sheets for my fridge.

3.  Cut the printed 8.5" x 11" in half vertically so you end up with 4.25" x 11" grocery list sheets. 

4.  Holding the notepad upside down, tap the top edge on a table until all the edges are perfectly aligned.  Clip one magnet to each side of the top of the notepad to hold the pages together.

I used my finger to apply the mod podge .
Remember, less is more!

5.  Spread glue on top of the notepad.  Make sure all the edges are coated with glue but do not use too much because the paper will ripple!  After gluing, use an additional two clothespins to clam the center.  You could also just set a heavy book on top of the notepad to keep the paper together.

I kept the magnets clipped to the paper until
I grabbed a few books to put on top of it instead.

6.  Let the glue dry and remove the books.  I left the books on top for about fifteen minutes, but you can leave them on longer if you feel more comfortable with that!  If you opt to keep the magnets on it instead, remember that if you keep them on too long they'll leave indentions on the paper!

Chris's old college books came in handy for this project!

You're done!  That project was super easy and it turns out so cute!  

Total Cost?

Magnet Clips: $2.05 from Target.  

I already had everything else! 

Now, that is one heck of a deal!  

So..what do you think?!

The Original Plan

These past couple of days I have been helping my friend Sarah re-organize her home.  Her husband has been out of town on work related business so she was hoping to get a few things done and surprise him when he got back.

We decided to have a brainstorming night at her house last week so she could show me what areas she wanted to work on. Then, she was going to go shopping to pick up the supplies we needed so we could start the fun Sunday after church.

The original plan was to tackle numerous areas.  They were:
-The pantry
-The hall closet
-The cabinetry in the kitchen
-The closet in bedroom number two
-The closet in bedroom number three, and
-The dinning room

We honestly thought we could get all of this done in one day.  Looking back on it now I know that was a silly notion to have.  We were ambitious and eager to get started and (in my mind at least) there wasn't too much that could go wrong.

Boy was I naive.

And stupid.

Let's start at the beginning though.  It'll be much easier to understand the goals we had if we start from there.

Sarah has a small pantry.  It's not very tall (maybe around 5 feet?) but it is only a few feet wide and the shelves are extremely deep.  The biggest problem was that she had no idea what items she needed from the grocery store and she would buy a lot of duplicates.  There would also be a lot of items that would go bad because they would get put in the very back of the pantry and were later forgotten.  We ended up deciding to clear everything out of that pantry and build a new one in the hall closet.  It would be a space for food and cleaning items, so an L-shaped pantry seemed the best way to go.

The picture below was my inspiration, but Sarah took it a few steps further and decided to use a track system.  She figured that would give her the freedom to add more shelves (or take some away) as time went on.  Plus, she has used the track system before and loves it!  We bought this one from Lowes.

Picture from
Home Stories A 2 Z

The second step was to make sure we had a space to organize her cleaning supplies.  We decided on the L-shaped pantry because that would free up one wall to hang up her brooms, mops, and whatever else she wanted on the opposite wall (see picture below).  You could also hang it on the door, which was the other option we considered.  

Picture from Real Simple

After figuring out what we were going to do downstairs we moved to the upstairs bedrooms.  Sarah has a lot of wrapping paper, gift bags, bows, etc.  And boy do I mean a lot!  She found a great solution from The Container Store that was able to hold all that she had and more!  The picture below was our inspiration.

Original image from IHeart Organizing

Elfa organizing systems are not cheap (even when they're on sale) but you can literally use them for anything!  They are especially great if you need more room for your pantry.  Plus, there are no screws so you can easily move it from one room to another which makes it a great solution for a small apartment! 

(I'm trying to talk Chris into letting me buy one while it's on sale.  I think I may be making a bit of progress!) 

Stay tuned to see what happens once we start putting things together!  

I'll leave you with this:

There was laughter, excitement, frustration, and almost tears.  Interested?  You'll have to come back to find out more! 

Busy Weekend

I had the busiest, craziest, most sleepless weekend I've had in a very long time.  For the first time ever I was actually looking forward to a Monday so I could sleep in a little bit and actually relax (sorry to all you working folks out there).  I won't go into all the dirty details of this weekend but let's just say there was a lot of moving and a lot of organizing with some fun mixed in.  My muscles are so sore today that I'm pretty sure I won't be doing a lot of heavy lifting in the near future so that will fall on Chris (poor guy!).  I hope he's up for the challenge!

Friday night I stayed at my mom's to help her pack up the house.  She finally sold it and is now in the process of packing everything up, giving things away, and moving out.  When she called me on Thursday to ask me if I wanted to come stay one last time at the house I grew up in, I knew it wasn't because she missed my quick wit and funny demeanor (although, that was part of it!).  She was really just planning to put me to work, and boy did she.  We were packing boxes like our lives depended on it.  And slowly but surely we got stuff done and my pile of goodies that I was taking back to my house was growing larger and larger (again, poor Chris!).

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning because some friends of my mom's came over to help put things on the back of the U-Haul.  It was sad for me to see all of our possessions being carried out of that house.  I teared up a few times but had to pull myself together because I didn't want anyone to see me cry!  There are a lot of good memories there and my dad really put his heart and soul into making that house a home for us.

A few months ago I had gone back there to take a few pictures so I would always have those memories.  I'm sure there are boxes full of photos from when the house was first built (that's something else I'll have to go through sooner or later) but for now I just have these.

(Top Left: Driving up to the house, Top Right: The shed,
Bottom Left: The carport,Bottom Right: The deck that Dad built!) 

I have other pictures but the quality is so bad that I won't share those.  There are a few things that I just love about this house: Dad built the deck and finished off the basement all by himself.  He was really handy and always had a new project to work on.  One thing I love about going back home is walking through the house and remembering all the work he had done.      

On Sunday I hung out with my friend Sarah.  She was telling me over dinner a few weeks ago that she wanted to organize and update her house and I (overly enthusiastically) offered to help.  Apparently when I get really excited I'm unable to finish sentences so I stammer on and on while a million thoughts go through my head on what projects we could do.  It's actually hilarious to hear Sarah describe what I was like.  I'm just glad I can entertain.  :-)

She took me to church that morning, went to lunch after, and then headed back to her house to start the projects.  I'll leave the details for a later post but let's just say that her spare bedroom closet was organized and we went out to Lowes to buy a few things to make a hall closet into a pantry.  We'll be finishing those projects tomorrow night (after a night of much needed rest) and we'll take loads of pictures to share with you at a later date!  I am so excited for the finished project and cannot wait to see how it turns out!

Stay tuned!

(L-R) Sarah, Emily, and I at my bachelorette party!

 

Life Story Binder

I was cleaning out our computer room closet today (that's a whole other story in itself) and came across a few things from Chris's college days.  They had been stuffed in a box and thrown in the closet with the rest of our junk, abandoned and forgotten.  I've come across a lot of his stuff lately, and have been stashing it in different places in the house until I thought of a way to organize it for him.  

We've been talking about how we need to clean out our garage (a project for this Sunday) and I just know that we'll find a lot of special memorabilia from his past when we do.  The first time we cleaned out that space I found a ton of stuff, but I wasn't too big on organizing then so it just got put back into boxes and was stored.  I'm excited to go through all of it again and try to sneak stuff back into the house so I can make him a present out of it all.      

Today I found his college transcripts from Embry Riddle and the University of Southern CA.  There were also a few things from when he worked for Boeing, some pictures from High School, and notes he'd written while in class to his friends.  Without me going through all of our his stuff, those papers probably never would've seen the light of day again.  

So, I put my crafty brain to work and tried to think of a good way to put all of these things together for him.  

I had come across something on Pinterest a long time ago called a Life Story Binder.  I loved the idea but didn't look into it any further because I just didn't think it was for me.  But as I was looking at Chris's papers, I realized that might be just the thing I want to use to organize them! 

What is a Life Story Binder?
"It's a place to gather and organize documents, photos and/or journaling that pertain to your life or the life of a family member." (source)

What do you need to get started?

• 3 ring binder (starting out bigger (like a 2" ring size) is always better so you have room to add on as needed)
• sheet protectors (80-100)
• Life Story Binder suggestion list (Kim from all things simple has already put together a list for you!)
• Return Address Labels (optional)

I probably won't have this ready for Chris's birthday in October (I have a feeling it will take a while) but I'm hoping to have it ready for Christmas.  I think this will be a fun project to do and I'll also get to find out a little bit more about his past (fun for me!  Not for him.)

Now for the best part.  I'd like to ask a favor from my readers (well, those who knew Chris and grew up with him).  If you have any pictures of him (with the story to go with it), would you mind sending me the digital copy of it?  The pictures/stories can be funny, serious, or any kind in between.  I think it would be fun to put a section in that is from those who love him and know him best.

After looking at Kim's suggestion list I've come up with what I want for my book (plus or minus a few things).  You can also see what I have and don't have here (the don't have is in black) .

If you don't have a picture but want to share a funny story you can leave it in the comment section or contact me through my e-mail.  You can find that on the side of my blog.  

Thank you!

Strawberry-Pineapple Smoothie

I went to Costco today and decided to buy a few pineapples for snacks and to dehydrate (Chris has been asking for it lately).  I haven't had a smoothie in a while and thought that a strawberry-pineapple concoction sounded delicious!  And boy was I right!  

Want the recipe to try?  I'm sure if you love pineapples and strawberries as much as I do you'll be just as obsessed with this smoothie as I am!

Strawberry-Pineapple Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries (frozen or fresh)

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (I used Greek)

2 tbspn white sugar

6 ice cubes

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  You may have to scrape down the sides of the blender a few times.

2.  Place in a glass and ENJOY!  

Pantry Reveal!

Yesterday I told you about my small, narrow, and absolutely awful pantry that was put in our apartment.  Aside from completely gutting it and starting over, there wasn't too much I could do about those ridiculous shelves.

Have I mentioned how much I hate them?

I was on a mission yesterday to find the remaining items I needed for my pantry design and I wanted to try the Dollar Tree to see if I could find anything to use there.  Unfortunately, I spent half an hour there and found absolutely nothing.  Everything I saw online did not end up being what I thought it was and failed my expectations.

I found more satisfying items at Target, but I only bought two things.  The expandable shelf was cheaper there than at The Container Store (score!) and I bought a six pack of Command Strips too!

I then moved on to HomeGoods where I found a beautiful basket for my potatoes and a nice glass jar for my spaghetti noodles.  I was unable to find the desk organizers for my spices but I found that I don't really need them and everything worked out the way I wanted it too.

Now, here is the final price of the project:

Hardware (Command Strips) : $7.55

Expandable Shelf : $12.39

Basket : $9.99

Glass Jar : $4.99

GOAL PRICE : $40 

ACTUAL FINAL PRICE : $34.92 

I'm pretty pleased that I came in $5.08 under budget!  Yes, I bought four things and the final price was actually a little expensive, but when you're happy with the finished product then the money is completely worth it!  The pantry organization will probably be an ongoing project because I'll constantly be fixing it so it is more efficient for us to use.  As of right now, it works fine and I'm loving it!  I kind of wish we had a glass door so I could constantly look at my hard work!  

Ready for the parade of pictures?

This is one of my favorite shelves in the pantry now!
It makes it so much easier to find the cans I need!

Command strips are the most amazing invention ever!

Spaghetti, rice, spices, and pasta.  Yummy! 

I'm a bit of a popcorn lover!  And it's nice to have my coffee,
tea, and crystal lite all in one place!

This is my other favorite part of the pantry!  The basket is
gorgeous and I can easily slide it in and out to get what
I need!  And I can easily access all the cans too.
(Can you tell I love to shop at Costco?)

Breakfast foods!  And the jar for my SOS mix!

Last but not least is the top shelf.  It holds the larger items; like my
dehydrator, jar of flour, and some other appliances you can't see.

What do you think?  Much better, right?

Kitchen Pantry Organization Ideas

My pantry needs help.  I've let it become a clutter pit of anything and everything, and it takes forever to find what I need to cook with.  I am constantly complaining to Chris about the state of it, but I've always thought there wasn't much I could do because we live in an apartment complex.
If I had my way I'd take out the shelves, replace them the way I wanted, add some pull out shelves, and make use of the two feet of empty space at the top.  But that wasn't happening so I had to find some other way to make my dream of an organized pantry come true.

I took a lot of stuff out of the top shelves, but as you
can see the bottom is kind of a jumbled mess!

I'm a huge advocate for Pinterest.  I reference it all the time when I want to simplify a space in my home, otherwise I'll go into an organization project blindly and it won't come out the way I want it to.  So I grabbed my cup of coffee and began my search for a new and organized pantry!

This article from Apartment Therapy has some great
 ideas for containers to use for organizing your pantry! 

I love the idea from Domestic Imperfection of using
desk organizers to organize spices in your pantry. 

Organize with Sandy used command hooks to hang things in
her pantry instead of using nails. Great idea for an apartment! 

The one thing I absolutely hate about our pantry is how small it is.  It's very narrow and they did not utilize the space very well when building it.  I guess I should count my blessings that we actually have a pantry, no matter how small it is.

After taking the measurements I made lists of what I have and what I need.  

So I set off on an Internet quest to find what I need!  I'm always looking for cheap solutions so I like to find things online and then head over to my favorite store (HomeGoods) to see if they have what I need at a discount.  

Here are a few of the things I found online:

Pasta Storage Solutions

(Top Left): Potato Storage
(Top Right and Bottom Left): Drawer Storage
(Bottom Left): Expandable Shelf for Canned Goods 

I found all of these solutions at The Container Store.  They're all great solutions, but if I bought them from there I'd spend $79.40.  That amount is giving me slight heart palpitations and I don't think Chris's heart (or budget) would be able to take that either.  

My goal is to spend $40 or less.  Do you think I can do it?  Stay tuned to find out....  

Dry Skin Relief

If you have ever been cursed with sensitive dry skin then you know what a pain in the butt it is.  I've struggled with it my entire life and still don't have complete control over it.  Some days it is worse than others but most days it is just there and somewhat manageable.

I was a baby when I first had signs of eczema.  The doctor told my parents to use lots of eucerin and to give me oatmeal baths but that only seemed to help somewhat.  I had a horrible rash all over (it was the worst on my legs) and nice sized red flaky patches all over the rest of my body.  After they got control over it I didn't have another episode until I was sixteen.  Being a lifeguard and being in the heat day after day didn't help my symptoms, and I found that sweat in certain areas (like the bend in your arms and knees) can cause eczema to appear.  Once again I was told to use lots of eucerin and was even given a cream to apply to the affected areas.

The worst breakout I've ever had came after my dad passed away.  I was told that stress can induce the symptoms and I looked like I had been beaten all over my body.  My back was completely covered and my neck looked like I had hickey's (I had people ask if that's what had happened daily).  It hurt to wash my hands because they would break open and bleed anytime water touched them and my face was red and blotchy.  I was miserable.  My doctor prescribed steroid pills and cream which helped get everything under control within a few days.  Ever since then I've had small breakouts but nothing serious, and I've been able to keep it under control with the cream my doctor prescribed.

Lately I've been having small episodes where I have a spot on my wrist or my cheek and use a little bit of my cream to get it to go away.  I don't like using my medicine because it has steroids in it and causes severe sunburn if I'm out in the sun (even with sunscreen on).  I needed a better alternative and fast, because on Saturday morning I woke up with a bad breakout on my face.  Chris swears he couldn't see it but my face was blotchy and was extremely dry.  I could use an enormous amounts of lotion but it didn't help the situation, and my face would soak up any bit of moisture I put on it.

When I got home Saturday night I immediately went on Pinterest to try to find some alternatives to my medicine.  The first thing I looked for was a recipe for an oatmeal bath.  There were two I found on Pinterest.  The first was just a regular bath (just using oatmeal) and the second one was an itch relief recipe using oatmeal plus other ingredients (good for chicken pox, psoriasis, eczema, etc).  I tried the oatmeal bath and my skin is already feeling loads better!

The second thing I found was a face wash.  All it is is 1-2 cups of Old Fashioned Oats ground down to a fine powder and stored in an airtight jar.  I put a little bit in my hand each night, mix it with water, and then cover my face in it and wash it off immediately.  In 24 hours my red flaky spots on my face were gone and it was already feeling better.  I put loads of eucerin on my face after washing it and that seems to help as well.

I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures.  I wasn't thinking about it when I first started my hunt on Pinterest but now I wish I had taken a few.  I guess you'll have to take my word for it when I say that it works!  You won't be sorry if you try it.

Also, I use a lotion that I found on Pinterest a long time ago and it really does help keep your skin moisturized (especially during the winter) and helps keep my eczema at bay.  You can find that recipe here.

Mickey's are Taking Over!

Have you ever heard of Hidden Mickey's?  "A Hidden Mickey is a representation of Mickey Mouse that has been inserted subtly into the design of a ride, attraction, or other location in a Disney theme park or elsewhere on Disney properties."  (source)

I think they're pretty awesome, and even though I don't spend my days at Disney World trying to spot them I thought they'd be a cool way to bring the Disney theme into our kitchen.  

My first thought was to use chalkboard paint on glass jars I use for bulk items in our pantry.  

As you can see, that didn't work out too well.  The paper I used stuck to the glass and the paint didn't come off in a clean line.  I was disappointed but put it behind me and moved on.

After doing some research on facebook and google, I found that you have to actually etch glass (or use sandpaper) so the chalkboard paint will adhere to it.  Can you believe that none of the tutorials from Pinterest even mentioned doing that?!  No wonder I was having a hard time with the chalkboard paint!  

Luckily I had some etching cream leftover from a different project and was able to use it for this.  But first I had to find a good Mickey stencil to use for the glass!  My friend Emily went to Disney World this summer and bought our wedding gift there, which included a really cool Mickey shaped pancake/egg mold.

I decided the mold was a great size for all of my glass jars and traced it out onto vinyl contact paper with a permanent marker.  Cutting out the shapes took forever, but I didn't rush and was extremely careful so there were no major incidents that deemed a Mickey unfit to use.  

Putting the vinyl onto the glass was fairly easy and I didn't want to try to be too perfect and make the Mickey straight or exactly in the middle.  I think there's a sort of magic to things if you have small imperfections.  I mean, life isn't perfect so why should you try to strive for such a thing?  

Anyways.  I left the etching cream on between 5 and 10 minutes until I wiped it off with a damp cloth.  

I bought the etching cream at Michael's 

Chris liked the look of it so much that he asked me not to add the chalkboard paint because it felt like more of a "hidden" Mickey the way it was.

I have to say, I agree.  

Magic in the Kitchen

Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to re-do our kitchen.  I say brilliant because my husband is actually okay with the idea, and I feel as though that is a big accomplishment in itself.  Usually he's only all for it if I don't spend any money, but this project cost me under $15 and I think he was pretty happy with that number.

Those who follow me on Pinterest already know that I love Disney.  Heck, you can even search through this blog and find that out!  The great thing is my husband loves it too.  We used to watch Hannah Montana together (we're not ashamed to admit it!), Wizards of Waverly Place, Sunny with a Chance, etc.  It's disappointing that all the good shows are off air, but thanks to Netflix we can still watch some of our faves!

So, when I went to Chris yesterday and said I wanted to do a Disney themed kitchen, he didn't hesitate to say what a great idea that was!  While he was at work I dove into Pinterest and began to look for ideas, and while I found a lot of utensils, dishes, and other accessories I couldn't really find what I was looking for.  I want a Disney kitchen but I don't want to over-do it which is what a lot of people (in my opinion) have done.

When we registered for wedding gifts I decided that I wanted a red/yellow/black/and white kitchen. Maybe I was subconsciously channeling my inner Disney goddess (haha) because those are all great colors to use for a Disney themed kitchen!   So imagine my excitement when I realized I didn't have to spend a ton of money on new towels, oven mitts, a tea kettle, rugs, etc!  I can just add a little Disney magic here and there until I'm satisfied.

In our apartment kitchen we have a lot of space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling.  I had always thought I wanted a Tuscan themed kitchen so I went to the Dollar Store and bought fake grapes and vines, used old Christmas lights, and put our wine/other alcohol bottles on top to give it that Italian feel.  I haven't liked it for a while (we don't drink a lot and the tops of the cabinets make us look like alcoholics) and felt like it needed a change.

I need a new camera...sorry for the bad pictures!

Insert Disney Printables.

What better way to start decoration my kitchen than with cute Disney quotes about food?  I searched google for at least two hours trying to find quotes from movies other than Ratatouille and had absolutely no luck.  It wasn't until I took my search to Facebook that I was able to find quotes that would work from my friends!  And I am ashamed to admit that the first one that popped in my head was not from my favorite Disney movie (Beauty and the Beast).

Next, I bought tabletop frames from Michael's to put my pictures in.  The frames were such a steal that I couldn't believe I walked out the store with them.  They're a little cheap but since they're going on top of my kitchen cabinets I wasn't too worried about it.

My beautiful artwork!  I'm in love!

And now for the total cost of this project:

Disney Printables: $1.23 for three 5x7 prints from Costco 

Picture Frames:  $0.50 for three 8x10 frames from Michael's
Designer Mats: $3.99 for three 5x7 mats from Michael's

Total:  $14.70

Not too bad for a quick and easy project!  I am so happy with the end result and Chris likes them too which is an added bonus!

The temporary solution is to put them on books to give the frames some height. I'll change that out soon!

**Side Note:  The printables are on my google site for you to download and I will be adding more later on!  They're all high resolution so you should have no problem printing a big print!**   

A Twist on Old School Friendship Bracelets

Who remembers those super awesome friendship bracelets that were big back in the 90's?  My friends and I used to make them all the time during the summer and I had quite a collection.  And I used to be pretty fast at doing them too.  So when I saw this pin on Pinterest, I thought it would be fun to try!

Chris and I travel a lot and I always hate how my headphones get tangled.  It takes me a least five minutes to unravel the chords which can get frustrating and annoying.   So I was excited to go to Michael's and buy the materials to get started on this project!

What You'll Need:
*Embroidery Floss (I used 27.3 yards for all three of them but had way to much left over!  Also, don't get the satin kind (I got cotton) because it doesn't hold knots!)
*Scissors
*Tape
*Earbuds
* Elmer's Glue or superglue

If you want to see step by step instructions on how to do this, visit this blog.

For now, I'll leave you with the photos from my own project and a few words of wisdom.

-This takes forever!  Especially when you're out of practice.  Only do it for a little bit at a time( I did it in 30 minute intervals) because your hands and back will start to cramp up!

-I decided to do my own interpretation of ombre.  I used three different colors but you can buy floss that fades in color as it goes on.

-Use lots of tape to hold everything in place!

Here are all my supplies (minus the superglue)!

It's much easier to roll the floss so it won't tangle while you're knotting it over the earbuds.

The finished project!  

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband loves Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.  And key lime pie.  And sugar cookies.  

But other than that he's not really a dessert kind of person.  We don't eat a lot of junk food in our house for that purpose.  And because if I do make something sweet I know I'll be the only one eating it and my thighs would not thank me for that one bit.

I do have those moments where my sweet tooth is screaming for some junk food and I don't have the willpower to say no.  So when Chris came home a few weeks ago talking about a dessert recipe he found online I knew I was going to have to try it.

You can find the original Mint Chocolate Chip Recipe on allrecipes.com.  I'm sure that as soon as you see the picture your mouth will start to water like mine did.

There were just a few issues I had:

-I don't like using prepackaged cookie mix (usually because I can't have it due to allergies) so I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch and just added the other ingredients to make them minty and delicious!

-I could not find creme de menthe baking chips at my grocery store so I substituted Andes mints (I love going to Olive Garden just to get one at the end of my meal!).

-Instead of mint extract I used peppermint extract.  It was all I had on hand at my house and I didn't feel like running out to the store!

Okay!  I think that's about all the issues I had.  Here is how I made the cookies:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

Original Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe: 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

Additional ingredients:

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

6 drops green food coloring

1 package of Andes Mints (this equals 1 cup)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy.  Add eggs; beat well.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.  Stir in peppermint extract, food coloring, mints, and chocolate chunks.
3. Using a spoon place dough onto ungreased cookie sheet (about 2 inches apart).
4. Cook for 8-10 minutes then let them cool for 3 minutes.
5. Serve warm or let them cool completely and store in an air-tight container for later.