Tarnished Silver

 When we had our  BBQ not too long ago I wanted everything to be perfect.  Of course there is no such thing but I did want to at least try for things to be done up nice.  That meant getting out the silver service that we were given after Photo Dude's grandma passed away.  It may seem strange to have silver out for a BBQ but we thought she would enjoy us using it whether for a fancy dinner or serving corn relish and dilly beans.  When we pulled out the set several of the pieces we wanted to use were tarnished and needed a quick cleaning.  It was the easiest thing ever just follow the directions below!  So no excuses go grab your silver and use it for dinner tonight make grandma happy ;)

Cleaning Silver

Get a soft cloth damp and sprinkle on enough baking soda to make a paste.  Scrub the silver the way you would normally wash flatware by hand.  The tarnish should quickly come away.  

If you have a lot of silver to polish make it a family event, sit around the table and get it all done together you will get to talk to each other without the distraction of the TV and I find it easier to bring up some of the big topics when I can keep my hands busy.

Simple Sewing

     I am by no means an amazing seamstress but I know my way around a few simple projects and it doesn't get much simpler than curtains.  Jack has needed new window treatments since we moved into the house but it always seems to get put off.  Finally I just couldn't take it any more and we headed out to the fabric store.  After a bit of debate over fabric choices we decided on robots on a black background (he wanted acid green zebra stripes!).  The black is working great to keep the light out of his room at night.  
      I started by washing and drying the fabric so that we didn't have shrinkage problems later.  Then the fabric got ironed out nice and neat and forgotten about for a few weeks (you can totally skip this step).  Then it got re-ironed when I 'found' it again.  Instead of using a ton of pins I ironed all the folds and then added a few pins just to make sure that things didn't get all wonky.  The seams on the sides and the bottom are 1/2 inch.  At the top there is a 1/2 inch fold under and then the pocket to run the rod through is 2 inches. 

      This is just one of those super cheap-y rods and I think it was in the room when we moved in probably with lace curtains.  The width of the fabric we bought was a perfect fit for the window but it doesn't have much spare I do wish that I had added a stripe or something at the bottom so that it was a little longer but I have no intention of ripping out all the stitches and Jack seems really happy so that is all that matters right?  Have a great weekend!

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