Welcome back to my blog! I know I haven't written in a long time but I've been really busy. Sometimes I feel like I am so busy that I only have enough time to do the things that I would like to write about and not actually have time to write about them.
The other day I got the idea, now that I actually joined the world of having a smartphone, I would look for an app that will allow me to talk and convert my speech to text. This way I can write my blog posts a lot faster than if I were to sit down in front of my computer and do them.
That made me think that it was time to start blogging again! I have a lot of cool things I've done recently and I would love to share them. So, again I jump on the blogging band wagon.
However, there is a difference. I plan to keep my blogs rather short. I don't care if you know my whole family history and that it's my grandmother's favorite recipe from Ireland and that she used to make it every summer when I was growing up as a child. I'm going to get straight to the point, because honestly nobody to know about your entire life, when they are just trying to bake a cake. Give me the darn recipe! And further more, reading some blogs annoys me, because people love to talk up the things they have, that I don't, like their wonderful family and kids, well I do have my parents/sibling and my four-legged family, so maybe that's not so bad.
So, I am going to get straight to the point and you're not going to have to scroll through a bunch of fluff to get to recipe or hack or an idea. I'm will just tell you exactly what it is that I've done and make it short and sweet.
With that being said, this is my first blog post in about two years. This one is about one of new grocery store discoveries. I usually don't buy Yoplait yogurt. I have grown up a lot since the days I ate Yoplait custard style yogurt, when I was a naive kid and thought that that was a healthy lunch option. Now that I'm older most of the things I buy are organic and have very limited ingredients and Yoplait usually doesn't qualify in that category. I also get really annoyed with their ads trying to convince you that something that they make is healthy when it actually often isn't. However, one day I stopped into Target and while I was in there I noticed they had a new kind of Yoplait in glass jars. Granted, it's not organic but the ingredients were very limited and they're exactly the ingredients that should be in yogurt: yogurt, milk, bacterial cultures, vanilla and sugar. So, I was somewhat impressed. Not organic, but with limited ingredients, I was willing to give it a try and it was in a glass jar! I am sucker for cute glass jars. I'm glass jar hoarder and I have all kinds of canning jars, among other types.
I love to repurpose glass jars into other things and I found lots of potential with the Yoplait Oui yogurt jars.
If for no other repurposing project, you can at least get custom made lids for these jars. I will tell you that there are people on Pinterest that make lids with their 3-D printers for the Yoplait Oui! yogurt and you can buy them. Then you can use them as a snack jars for granola, nuts, berries, etc. They make the perfect lunch box accessory. I think the lids are awesome, because unfortunately once you pull the tab off the top of the yogurt the jars, that's it.
Other ways to repurposed the jars is to make candles. I like to recycle old candles people are tossing out. You can get new wicks super cheap at the craft store. If you decide the wick is too long after the candle is hardened, cut some off and use the old wick holder from the candle you melted down. Just use a pair of pliers to open it back up and squeeze it shut once the wick piece is inserted. Then you can recycle just about every piece of the candle.
I also like to use a cheese wax you can use Babybel cheese or the guoda or edam that comes from Aldi. I have to say sometimes my buying choices are based on the color that the cheese wax is, so I know what color candles I can make. I buy the smoked Gouda more than I buy the regular Gouda. The smoked Gouda is in a yellowish-beige wrapper and sometimes when I'm mixing that with a colored candle I get a better color. If I want red candles, I'll just use the regular gouda or edam wrapper. You can melt down the cheese wax, because it's basically paraffin wax, but food grade and doesn't effect the cheese. So if you're like me and you love Aldi Gouda, it's great because then you can reuse the wax.
Finally, you can add essential oil's to your candle to fancy it up and provide aromatherapy. I have two wintergreen and two lavender/chamomile candles. Recycled candles and cheese wax in recycled glass jars.
Better yet you can't even string the jars with wire and make them into a garland for an outdoor garden party. Or if you want to do something a little safer, string the jars and use those little battery powered tea lights instead.
So that's my blog post about what to do with Yoplait Oui jars. I made candles, you can come with all kinds of ideas of what to do with them more than what I've did here. I would be happy if you shared your photos and ideas. I encourage you to take a look at what you have at home and see how those items can be repurposed. Whether it's Oui jars, canning jars, pasta sauce jars, cheese wax, old candles or something else. As a society we tend to waste a lot. While recycling is great, reusing items and reducing waste is even better. As the saying goes "reduce, reuse, recycle" - in that order!
The Jar My first candle attempt A better picture I found online
The Jar My first candle attempt A better picture I found online