Useful Soccer Gift Bags/Girls Hair Tie Bags

I know the weather may not make scream spring but spring is here. In our house spring means SOCCER. We love soccer although we play soccer all year round spring means a new outdoor soccer season. Our soccer team is like a family. I spend more time with the soccer parents then I do with my friends. Between practicing 2 to 3 times a week and the game we spend a lot of time together. 

Our coach has a rule, well he has a lot of rules but this rule is "always have your hair up and out of your face......" As we sit at practice I hear him say "why is your hair down?" "Put your hair up?" We always tell the girls to keep hair ties in their soccer bags. Well with that in mind.....

I decided to make each girl in our group a little bag with hair ties, headband, bobby pins, small little hair rubber bands and tissues. I wrote each girls name on the bag in case they are out of the their bags we know who it belongs to. I think these bags are a cute way to make sure each girl has something to keep their hair up and out of their eyes. It is a nice welcome to spring soccer season.

So if you are looking for a sweet useful gift to give your girls soccer team here is what you will need to make these bags. I purchased all of these items from our local Dollar Tree. 

Zipper plastic bags
Hairties
Bobbypins
Headbands
Little hair rubber bands
Plastic eggs
personal package of tissues

I wrote each girls name on the bags.

I then filled each bag with 7 hair ties, headbands, bobby pins, tissues and little hair rubber bands.

I used the plastic eggs to hold the little hair rubber bands. It will keep them from spilling all over the place. I purchased packages of each of the items and split them up into each bag. 

Here is how the bag looked finished with everything in it.

I hope your team likes these bags. Also good luck on a great spring season. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Mrs. Fife

Easy Homemade Calzones

Easy Homemade Calzones

Calzones is a easy, fast supper that can be put together in a matter of minutes. I make the dough the night before and let it rise in the refrigerator. The dough I make can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. There is a simple pizza dough recipe that The Pioneer Woman makes that is easy and tastes great. Here is how you make a homemade calzone.

You will need:

1. Pizza or marinara sauce (addition sauce is needed to serve with the calzones. I don't use pizza sauce for that.)
2. Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (you could also use mozzarella but I prefer the taste of monterey jack)
3. Pizza dough (You can use the refrigerated kind or the dry mix to make the dough. I personally like the taste of fresh homemade dough and it is so easy.)
4. Topping you like on pizza such as pepperoni, veggies or anything else you like on pizza)
5. Garlic butter (optional but I feel it makes a big difference in taste and appearance I use Chef Shamy brand)
6. olive oil

For this post I was making 2 different calzones. I served them with a salad and hot marinara sauce. 

Here is how you assemble make a calzone.

Preheat the oven at 500.

I start by putting olive oil on my baking sheet. 

I don't use a rolling pin to roll out the dough I use my hands which works great and doesn't stretch out the dough to much. 

Place sauce on 1 half of the dough. Don't put the sauce to close to the edge of the dough.

Place cheese on top of the sauce.

Add your desired toppings.

Now fold the plain half of dough over the half with the sauce, cheese and toppings.

Start to fold the bottom rim over the top to create a seal. You don't want to leave an opening in the calzone.

I then spread the garlic butter over the top of the calzone. It makes a big difference in taste and especially in appearance. 

Place in over for 15-18 minutes. Depending on the size of your calzone you may need to cook a little longer. You want the crust on top to be golden brown. 

Let cool for 5 minutes and serve with bowl of hot marinara for dipping. I cut up the calzones so everyone can have as big of a piece as they like or you could make smaller individual calzones. 

I hope you love these as much as we do. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Mrs. Fife

Easy Italian Pasta Salad Recipe

Easy Italian Pasta Salad 

There is nothing like a good pasta salad. This easy recipe is one I use a lot especially during the summer but it is great anytime of year. My kids love it and they actually eat the veggies so for me that is a win-win situation. I hope you like this recipe as much as we do. 

Here is the cast of characters.

You will need:

1  16 oz box of farfalle pasta  (I used the small farfalle this time but I have also used rotini pasta.)

1 bottle of Italian dressing

1 container of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 green pepper

1 can black olives

1 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese

1/4 pound of salami 

1 small package of pepperoni

Cook the pasta according to the box directions. While the pasta is cooking I start cutting up the veggies, salami and cheese. When the pasta is done rinse it in cold water to stop it from cooking and because it is best to have the pasta cold when assembling the salad. 

Place the cold pasta in the bowl you want to serve it in.

Then I start cutting and adding the rest of the ingredients. 

Drain the can of black olives and add them to the pasta.

I cut the tomatoes in half and add to the salad. 

I cut the green peppers into small pieces. 

I use sliced salami now because that is what my family likes. I used to cut the salami into chunks like the cheese. When I used to cut it like that I bought the salami from the deli in a chunk size about 2 inches thick. If you use the slice salami you only need a 1/4 pound of sliced salami.

I add the pepperoni to the salad. If you like more pepperoni add more in between the layers.

I cut the cheese into small chunk pieces. Don't cut the cheese into large chunks because you just want small little pieces that will mix well with the rest of the salad. 

Next I add the salad dressing. I pour the entire bottle in salad. If you are making this the night before I would leave a little of the dressing so you can add it the next day before serving. I then mix all of the salad together.

 Here is how the salad looks all beautiful and ready to eat. 

I think the salad tastes better when it chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours. 

You can add or leave out any ingredients you don't like. You can adjust the recipe to your preferences. 


I love this pasta salad and I hope you do also.

Thanks for stopping by.


Mrs. Fife

How to Make a Sock Bun and 2 Easy Hairstyles

Sock Bun = 2 easy hairstyles

I love when you can do 1 thing and get 2 great results. I also love saving time so this hairstyle is a great go to. 

You have to start with the sock bun in order to get the other hairstyle. 

So I am sure you are wondering how to make and use a sock bun. Here are step by step instructions.

You need to find a sock old or new that is up to you. I know people who have done both. I think if the sock is washed it would be ok to use and new socks work great. In the pictures I am using one of my husbands old socks to show you the steps on how to make a sock bun. Making a sock bun is cheap and really easy. 

Step 1: Find or buy a sock. I prefer to use black socks but it doesn't matter you could use white or black socks. I think black socks blend better with my dark hair. 

Step 2: Now cut off the tip (toes) of the sock like in the picture. 

Step 3: Then start from the top where the elastic is and roll the sock.

Step 4: The end result will look like a bagel. It is that simple you have made a sock bun. Now on how to use it and end up with 2 great hairstyles. 

How to use a sock bun?

Step 1: I like to do this with wet hair. To use the sock bun you can do it with dry or wet hair. I just feel if you are doing the sock bun to get the second wave curly hairstyle wet hair is the way to go.

Step 2: Put your hair into a high ponytail. The higher the pony tail the better.

Step 3: Take the sock bun and put your ponytail through it. Like the picture below. 

Step 4: Pull the sock to the tips of your hair. 

Step: 5 Take your hair and wrap it around the sock bun. Tucking and rolling towards your head. 

Step 6: You will end with a beautiful bun.

Now on to the second hairstyle.

This is even easier than the sock bun. Leave the sock bun in for hours. I usually put it in at night and when I wake up I have beautiful curls. You could also do it in the morning and take it out in the evening. The longer you keep the bun in the better the curls. You can't beat curling your hair with this method it saves so much time.

Step 1: Unroll the sock bun.

Step 2: Take out your ponytail and you have beautiful wavy curls. Just spray with a little spritz of hairspray and your curls are done.  Just like the picture below.

I love both hairstyles. The bun is great anytime and fancy enough for special occasions. I love the curls and it saves so much time.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Mrs. Fife

Easy Card Game: A great way to make memories with your kids and family. Solution to cabin fever.

Playing Cards Making Memories

Baby it's cold outside. This winter has been a tough one and shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. We have used quite the number of calamity days or snow days. The kids have been off of school and looking for something to do to entertain themselves. I thought this would be a good time to blog about a cheap, easy, fun way to keep the family occupied to cure a case of cabin fever. We love to play cards as a family. I think it is great way to bond with the kids and make memories. We laugh together, talk about anything and everything and the kids really love it. 

I told you this would be a cheap way to cure cabin fever it costs the price of a deck of cards. 

We like to play all kind of card games, Uno, Skip Bo, Bolgona (the kids friendly name for Bull Sh*t), Gin Rummy, Rummy (yes there is a difference), Go Fish. However there is a card game that is a family tradition. 

We call it Blitz. My great-grandparents played this at their house with my Grandmother and her siblings and all of their spouses. My grandparents played it with us on Christmas. Now my Mom plays it with me and my siblings, our spouses and kids.  My great-grandparents played for pennies and nickles. My grandparents played with quarters and now we play for dollars or nothing. Over the years the stakes of the game have changed but the rules of the game have stayed the same. 

Here are the rules to play Blitz. 

Blitz

You use a regular 52 card deck of cards. There needs to be at least 2 players. The more players the more fun you will have. Now here is the goal of the game to reach 31 points in the same suit. If you get 31 of the same suit you call out blitz. It doesn't happen very often but when it does it is really exciting. 

Aces are valued at 11 points

King, Queen, Jack are all 10 points each.

The rest of the deck is taken at its face value.

Each player should start off with 4 quarters or chips in front of them. This is a way of keeping track how many "lives" you have left in the game. 

Each player is dealt 3 cards. Don't show anyone else your cards. After each player has 3 cards the dealer then should lift the next card face up and next to the pile of the remaining deck. The person to the dealers left goes first and continue with the next person to the left of that player.  Remember to rotate dealers to the left with each hand dealt. 

The person going first needs to decide what suit they are going to collect. An example if you had this hand you would collect hearts.

If you had this hand you would collect spades even though there are 2 diamond cards. The reason is because the spades card is a higher value card than the combination of the 2 hearts cards. If the person before you tosses out an ace of diamonds you would change to collecting diamonds because you have a higher number than the 10 of spades. 

The person to the dealers left goes first and decides to take from the deck or the top card and then discards. The next player to that players left must decide to take from the deck or the last card discarded. You can only take the top card not one previously discarded by a player a few picks before. Example:

You could only us take the 2 not the 10 underneath it. 

If you pick up the card off of the pile you can not discard it. However if you pick up from the deck you can discard it. 

If you have 21 or more of the same suit you can KNOCK. This means that you actually knock on the table when it is your turn next. You have to knock before you take a card and once you knock you can NOT take a card. What happens then is everyone else around the table has one last turn to get their cards as high as possible before everyone turns their cards over and shares what they were collecting and how high their number is. If you knock when you get 21 if the game has gone around the table a few times you may get eliminated yourself because it could be the lowest number.  The person with the lowest number puts a quarter into the center. Once you loss all of your quarters you have 1 free ride. Meaning you can ride free and win the entire game as long as your not the one with the lowest number when someone knocks. You are eliminated from the game once you run out of quarters/life and you lost while riding free. 

What happens when someone calls BLITZ? Everyone but that person losses a quarter/life. When can you call Blitz? As soon you are dealt it or if you pick up a card that gives you Blitz. However if you get 31 after someone has knocked you can't call Blitz nor will everyone lose a life. 

The last person who has a quarter or hasn't lost while riding free is the winner. 

The more people you have the longer the game will go on. 

I promise you will laugh and have a great time with your family. 

Your kids will remember this much more than playing a video game while you are off doing something else. 

Our kids love playing cards with us. 

I hope you have a great time playing with your kids. I hope this is something you can do as a family to stay busy during those cold days. I also hope your family has as much as mine does playing this game, it is family tradition that has brought us so many great memories.

What card games do you play as a family?  

Thanks for stopping by.

Mrs. Fife