Cranberry Lime Infused Vodka

This year I decided to make all of my Christmas presents- and what better gift to give then infused vodka! Hopefully Carly will act surprised when she gets hers!  It is super easy to make, looks very festive, & tastes delicious!

Want to make your own? Here it goes...

What you need:
-1 bag of cranberries per bottle
-2-3 limes per bottle (I used 3 per bottle because I wanted more green to show)
-Vodka of your choice (you will use approximately 2 1/4- 1/2 cups per infused bottle)
-Sugar
-Bottles: I found mine at IKEA (sterilize using hot water)
-Holiday music (optional) 

Start by turning on your holiday music! I enjoyed listening to the album "The Puppini Sisters- Christmas with the Puppini Sisters" as I worked.

Using a sharp knife,  poke a hole in each cranberry. Yes, I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it seriously takes no time at all.

Fill the jar 1/3 full with cranberries. Next, using a knife, peel off the rind of one lime in long strips and place it in the jar.  Top with another layer of cranberries, then more lime rind. Finish filling the jar with cranberries. I had 3 layers alternating with cranberries and limes.

Next, you will want to add a bit of sugar to cancel out the bitterness of the cranberries. You don't want to make the vodka too sweet so add slightly less than 2 TBSP of sugar (less if you have a small jar). I used a funnel to pour in the sugar.

Again, using the funnel, pour the vodka into the jar. I first measured 2 cups and poured in. Then added another 1/4th cup. You may need to add up to a total of 2 1/2 cups to fill the jar. Seal the jar, then give it a good shake.

Be sure to give the jar a good shaking every day or two to make sure that the sugar is mixed throughout. You can let your infused vodka sit anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. The longer you leave it, the sweeter it will be.

You can use your Cranberry Lime Vodka in some delicious mixed drinks or serve mixed with club soda.

Gifting: Add a cute gift tag with a cocktail recipe (see below).  You may even want to include a shaker and a fun martini glass! I noticed some cute shakers in the dollar bins at Target.

Crantini
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
1 1/2 oz. Cranberry-Lime Vodka
4 oz. Cranberry Juice
1 tbsp Frozen Limeade Concentrate {optional}

Mix together in a martini shaker & shake well.
Serve in a martini glass, garnished with cranberries & lime zest.
Enjoy!

Allons-y!
The Girls of Gallifrey 

Doctor Who Baby Names

Have found your self pregnant and wanting an epic baby name?  A name that shows kindness, compassion, bravery, and strength...naturally you think of The Doctor. Here is a list of names perfect for your baby!  Your baby will love any of these names...  know how I know that? I speak baby. Enjoy!

Companion Names

Doctor 1

• Susan
• Barbara
• Ian
• Vicki
• Steven
• Katarina
• Sara
• Dodo
• Polly
• Ben

Doctor 2

• Polly
• Ben
• Jamie
• Victoria
• Zoe
• Brigadier

Doctor 3

• Liz
• Jo
• Sarah Jane

Doctor 4

• Sarah Jane
• Harry
• Leela
• Romana
• Adric
• Nyssa
• Tegan

Doctor 5

• Adric
• Nyssa
• Tegan
• Vislor
• Kamelion
• Peri

Doctor 6

• Peri
• Melanie or Mel

Doctor 7

• Melanie or Mel
• Ace  

Doctor 8

• Grace

Doctor 9

• Rose
• Tyler
• Adam
• Jack

Doctor 10

• Rose
• Mickey
• Donna
• Martha
• Jones
• Astrid
• Sarah Jane
• Jackson
• Rosita
• Lady Christina
• Adelaide
• Wilfred  

Doctor 11

• Amelia
• Amy
• Pond
• River
• Rory
• Canton
• Craig
• Clara
• Oswin
• Oswald  

Torchwood Names

• Gwen
• Cooper
• Jack
• Ianto
• Toshiko

Great Characters

• Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All a.k.a. Stormy
• Alfie
• Vincent (As in Van Gogh) 
• K-9
• Bode (As in the Face of)
• Winston (Churchill)
• Elizabeth (Queen)
• Idris (The T.A.R.D.I.S) 
• Sally

Other Names

• John Smith

Real Doctor Names

• William Hartnell
• Patrick Troughton
• Jon Pertwee
• Tom Baker
• Peter Davison
• Colin Baker

• Sylvester McCoy
• Paul McGann
• Christopher Eccleston
• David Tennant
• Matt Smith

Please be sure to leave us comments letting us know what name(s) you choose for your offspring!
Geronimo!
Carly & Kim

Three Cheese Gluten Free Quiche

My husband loooooves quiches. He could eat them four days a week. I could not however, but with quiches you can add whatever veggies or cheese you want and it make a different meal each time.  I found an awesome recipe for a low Glycemic index quiche and I make it all the time! I have also made this quiche gluten free and meat free.  I try to go meatless at least one day a week and quiches lend themselves to this. Don't get me wrong, I will sometimes add meat but this is a healthy meatless meal. This is also an easy make ahead meal for those busy work weeks.

Here is what you need:

1 pie crust ( If you use gluten free crust, they are smaller, so you will need to buy two crusts)
1 cup of cottage cheese
1 cup of shredded cheese ( I like to use swiss, cheddar, or blends)
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, grated
4 eggs, beaten

Crust, mushrooms, cheese, eggs, cottage cheese, and spinach

Optional 
Veggies  (spinach, mushrooms, onions, and anything that sounds good.)
Meat  (bacon, crab, sausage, etc.)

Here is what to do 

1. Bake the pie crust according to the directions on the package. Don't forget to poke holes in the crust so it doesn't bubble. It usually takes about 10-15 min to cook the crust. 
2. Mix all ingredients together. 

      3. Bake at 350* for 45-50 minutes.

        4. Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy! (If you want to save this for a work night let it cool and    wrap it up and just reheat in the oven.)

Yummmm

School Birthday

School is on it's way and ideas are starting to overload my brain. This is a simple and fun way to celebrate birthdays. Find some music from iTunes, the library, or in your collection of music that was popular the year your students were born. Just be prepared to be a little sad that the music you still like was made when they were born. My group of third graders will need music from 2004-2005. I play the music when we are eating birthday treats! I also try and not play the same song for every birthday so it is nice to have a  CD with a handful to pick from.

Best Jam of 2004- Milkshake By Kelis

Best Jam of 2005- Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson 

When I say run, run...... RUN
             The Girls of Gallifrey

 

Caution... Girls with paint brushes!

Painting your new cornhole boards

This is where the project gets fun, well, as long as you don't decide to paint the chevron pattern. Don't get us wrong, we love the chevron pattern and think it looks super cool! But it involved way to much math for our mushy summer brains. 

These are the painting products we used to paint our cornhole boards:

• semi-gloss latex paint with primer – 1 quart of each color (some people use high-gloss)
• painter’s tape
• Paint rollers
• Paint brushes
• Paint tray
• Plastic tarp or cloth to paint on
• Sidewalk chalk or a pencil (if you decide to attempt the Chevron)

Kim showed Carly an easy trick by placing a plastic bag around the paint tray so we could reuse the tray without having to wash it out out. Nice one Kim! We were going for a summer coastal theme so we picked out three colors, cream, coral, and teal. 

First we painted our base coat with a roller. We went with cream for the base coat and needed to do two coats to cover up the wood. We didn't put the paint on thickly and we live in a dry climate in the summer so the paint dried fairly fast. As you know, watching paint dry can be a bit boring, that is where the beer comes in! We painted the entire board including the edges in cream. Don't forget to paint the inside edge of the circle as well.

Painting the base coat

If you want to keep things simple, you can keep the edges cream (or your choice color of base coat) we would highly suggest taping the around the edges once the base coat is dry, so that way your paint doesn't drip down when painting your design. 

Remember in the last post when we said we were overly ambitious? That is where painting the chevron comes in! Again, don't get us wrong, it looks super cool and we looked up a couple of different ways to do the chevron pattern on Google. We decided to use a coordinate grid method. We divided the board into four sections across and four down using sidewalk chalk. Then we used painters tape to create the mountain peaks for the pattern. We also chose to paint alternating the 3 colors (the cream of course was the part under the tape). We will however let you do the rest of the math if you choose to use the chevron pattern. As you can see, we only have one cornhole board with a chevron pattern, we found it extremely frustrating.

Creating the coordinate grid (note the highly needed beer in the background)

The chevron taped off

The painted chevron

For the other boards we went with a much easier design, horizontal and vertical stripes. We didn't want them to be traditional so our stripe sizes varies. We went for a beach towel look alternating the stripe widths and colors.

Vertical stripes

Horizontal stripes

We kept this simple by placing the painters tape on the edge of the board where we wanted the stripe and just brought it straight down or to the side. 

We painted the stripes in with a brush. We had to use two coats for our stripes to cover up all the base coats.

After the paint dried, it was fun to peal back the tape and see our final result! We think they turned out well!

Pealing off the tape (note the chevron edge- pretty huh? Nope! Use tape on the edges to keep them clean)

The final result!

The final step to complete the cornhole game was sewing the bean bags. This was probably the easiest part of the whole process! Okay, not probably the easiest part, it was the easiest part. And this time I made Carly use the sewing machine after all, I had used all the power tools! We aren't going to go into details on how to use your sewing machine, so hopefully you know how.

Here are the supplies:

Supplies

• 5/8 yard of 2 colors of fabric (Duck Cloth or VERY sturdy outdoor fabric*) this makes 16 bean bags (8 of each color)
• Sewing machine
• Coordinating thread
• Rotary cutter or scissors
• Ruler
• Pins
• Funnel of paper rolled into a funnel
• 2 cup measuring cup
• Tub to catch raining popcorn kernels
• Popcorn kernels (4- 64oz bags for 16 bean bags) (but officially you should use Feed Grade Dry Corn)

*The first orange fabric we used wasn't quite a thick as the teal and started to come apart when we first played. We had to purchase new orange and start again.

Start by cutting 7x7" squares of fabric, you will need 16 squares of each color (for the 2 cornhole sets). Place right sides of fabric together and pin around the square leaving a 1 1/2" opening.

7x7" Square

Be sure to use the correct foot for zig-zag stitch and set your machine to a zig-zag stitch. Sew around the square using a 1/4" seam allowance leaving the 1 1/2" opening to turn and pour the popcorn into. Be sure to back-stitch at the start and end of your stitches!

Look! Carly is sewing!

Trim the corners slightly and turn right side out using your fingers to carefully push out the edges.

Turned out bean bag

Measure 2 cups of popcorn and using your funnel, fill you bag. One 64oz bag of popcorn kernels should fill 4 bean bags. Turn the edges of the hole under and pin. We also used a pin to hold the corn back from the machine as we stitched. Stitch the hole shut (still using zig-zag stitch) making sure to back-stitch to ensure your bean bag is securely closed.

2 cups popcorn kernels

Paper funnel

Filling the bean bag

Note the vertical pin holding the corn back from the needle

Sewing the hole closed

Be sure to test your bags before you have your first gathering to ensure your bags are sturdy enough!

TaDa!

Now you are officially ready to enjoy your new cornhole game!
Party on dudes!
The Girls of Gallifrey

Caution... Girls with powertools!

DIY Cornhole 

When we decided to start our blog we were overly ambitious and decided that our first project would be making two sets of cornhole boards to use during the summer. Kim had her masters graduation party coming up and we wanted them done by then so we could play them at the party.

WOW! What were we thinking?

This is definitely not a project for beginners or people who don't drink. We happen to be beginners who aren't afraid to drink some beer while using power tools, but don't worry, we did have a wood/ power tool expert with us. We did manage to finish the actual board in one day, with a ton of help from Kim's dad and we were able to bust them out at the party. It took us a second long day to finish the painting and sewing of the second set of bags, and although this project was overly ambitions as a first attempt, we are extremely happy we did them and we couldn't be prouder! We find a reason to bust them out at every gathering and they are always a hit! We even have people wanting to make their own.

*Before we do anything, this would be a good place for a reminder about safety, we are teachers after all. Safety glasses should be worn any time you’re working with a power tool. Make sure you know how to use any tool you pick up. We were lucky that we had an expert on hand to help us with this safety step. Also we learned the hard way that you shouldn't wear flip flops when working with wood. Okay, so only a few splinters and luckily nothing major, but still wear closed toed shoes!

Here is a complete list of all the supplies you should need for a basic cornhole set (this is enough to make 1 set of boards, we just doubled the recipe). We recommend you read through all the instructions first so it’s clear why you need each item before you go shopping just to make sure that you are up for the challenge.

• 1/2″ thick sheet of plywood – one 4’x4′ 

• 8′ long 3×4′s (4)

• 4 1/2″ long 3/8″ diameter carriage bolts (4)

• 3/8″ flat washers (4)

• 3/8″ wing nuts (4)

• 2 1/2″ wood screws (1 box)

They’re not all necessary but certainly the more power tools you can round up the easier it will all be. And according to Kim, they are fun to use! Carly was too scared to use them. 

• circular saw (alternative: table saw or hand saw) 

• mitre saw (alternative: hand saw with a mitre box)

• measuring tape

• clamps (optional but very handy)

• power drill and assorted bits (up to a 3/8” bit in size)

• File or sandpaper (coarse, medium, and fine grit or at least medium)

• hammer

• compass 

• jigsaw

• Drill press

• Right angle ruler 

• Arch ruler (Not sure about the technical name, but you can see what we mean in the picture that comes later) 

Here is a photo of our cut wood (and choice beverages)

• 4 feet (4) (frame sides)

• 21 inches (4) (frame ends)

• 16 inches (4) (legs)

Here is the plywood with the 3x4 clamped on

Drilling the smaller hole before adding the screw

Tip: Drill your hole first with a drill bit slightly smaller in diameter than your screws. This makes it a little easier putting the screws in and ensures your wood doesn’t split as the screw goes in place. Also make sure to put the correct ends together if you don’t, your frame will have the wrong dimensions!
We used ten or twelve long screws. Your plywood should be a perfectly squared 3’ x 4’ piece of wood, but your frame might have a little distortion to it. You might need to tweak your frame just a little bit to fit the plywood’s shape. You can use your clamps again to make this part easier.
Use a compass or something of the sort to draw a circle six inches in diameter.

Kim using the compass

Carly was afraid of the power tools so here is Kim using the saw

Look, it's a circle!

Filing the edges smooth

Carly measuring the arch (with the "arch ruler")

Drill press

Next we marked the hole for our bolt. Transfer your leg’s midpoint line onto the frame (we laid the leg complete with hole onto the frame and marked where the hole should be). You can also measure the midpoint of the frame’s 3×4, which again should be around 1 ¾”. Do not include the plywood in this measurement, just the 3×4 of the frame! Where these two lines intersect is where you want the bolt to go, right through the center of the frame and leg.  We used a 3/8" drill bit to make the hole in the frame. 

The carriage bolt inserted

Washer and Wing Nut (note the curved end)

Note the angle at the bottom

Here is one board finished!

Test run #1

Carly V. Grant

Here’s a list of all the tools we used as well.

The first step to building your cornhole table is to cut your wood. The 3x4s will be cut for our frames and legs. We went to Lowe's to get our wood and they cut it for us! Rocky at Lowe's was awesome and really helped us at this step. Thank you Rocky! For one set (2 cornhole tables) you’ll need boards with the following lengths:

Construct your cornhole table’s wood frame with the 3×4′s and screws. We recommend 2 ½ inch wood screws. We also used a couple of clamps to hold the frame together nice and flush. You’ll want all of your corners and edges to be flush with the other board. Keep in mind that even an apparently straight 3×4 can have a slight bend to it. You may need to torque your boards just a bit to get the last corner together properly. Don’t worry, a little distortion will work itself out.

Now put your plywood surface on the frame and screw it down (pre-drill the holes again).

What kind of cornhole table doesn’t have a hole? Mark the center of the hole – 9″ from the top end of the board and 12″ from either side.

Use the largest drill bit you have to make a good pilot hole for the starting point of your saw just inside the circle.

Now insert the blade of your jig saw into the pilot hole you just made. Cut out the hole as carefully as you can. If you really take your time you can get a pretty decent looking hole. It may not be perfect, but this is a straight-forward way of doing things. You can also cut a hole in your board with a hole saw or a router. Any minor discrepancies can be cleaned up with a file. File in one direction or else you will split your wood. 

Next comes the legs of your cornhole board. We agree that this was the trickiest part in the whole process. Kim's dad was invaluable during these steps! The leg has several requirements. It must raise the end of the cornhole table 12 inches off the ground. It must also be sturdy enough to withstand an onslaught of cornhole bags. Your cornhole party will be a big flop if the legs break or fold in every time a bag hits it. To make the legs incredibly stable, we’re going to make sure they extend past the frame a proper amount and make full contact with the ground. 

First we’re going to make a few markings on our legs. Estimate where our bolt will pass through the leg by drawing a line halfway from the side of your leg. (Remember, this midpoint will not be at the 2 inch mark since a 2×4 is not actually 2 inches by 4 inches – it will be more like 1 ¾”.) Make another line the same distance from the end of the leg and perpendicular to the first line. These two lines intersect at the point where you will want to pivot your compass (we used the arc ruler instead of a compass). Use a compass to draw a half circle extending out to the edges of the board like shown. Then we used the jig saw to cut the curve of the leg and sanded it down a bit. We ended up having to make some adjustments to our original circle, we aren't sure what went wrong here. We used a drill press to make the hole in the leg.

Once your legs are properly trimmed, assemble your bolts, washers, and wing nuts.

Sliding the carriage bolt through the hole in the frame (you might need to twist it through the hole) you’ll find the square shoulder of the bolt keeps things from becoming nice and flush. Take a hammer and gently tap the carriage bolt into the wood frame until it and the washer are flush with the wood surface.

You can see I’ve created a square hole that the bolt’s shoulder will now fit. The bolt can now sit flush with the board and this also keeps your carriage bolt from turning when you tighten the nut.

Put the bolt, washer, and nut in place but don’t tighten things down quite yet because you may have to do some adjustments when you cut the angles.

Make sure your leg is freely moveable from the playing position to the folded position. 
Now angle your mitre saw until it is perfectly in line with the line on your board. If you follow these directions just as they are, you should end up with a cut that is close to 45 degrees. After one quick cut you should be holding the perfect leg! Now do the same for the other leg.

You should probably double check that you’ve cut your legs to the correct length at this point. Put your newly cut legs in place and confirm the height of your boards with a measuring tape. Remember you’ll want the raised end of your cornhole board to measure 12″ off the ground at every point along the back edge. You may have to do some playing around to get the legs to stand evenly, i.e. additional cuts or sanding. 

Tada! You’ve done it! Now set up your tables, take a step back and admire your handiwork. You finally have your own set that is guaranteed to withstand hours and hours of flying sacks of corn! Next we’ll talk about painting the cornhole tables and then making the bags.

Until then, Cheers! 
The Girls of Gallifrey

Dot Burst Mugs

Dot Burst Mugs 

This is a craft is easy enough to do with children and is fairly cheap. We made 8 mugs and spent around 30 dollars. This is also a great craft to give as a gift, we filled our mugs up with candy for our co-workers and friends (just don't tell because we haven't given it to them yet)!

Material

• Solid color ceramic mugs (we found ours at Big Lots)
• Sharpies (found out after that oil-based sharpies make the mug dishwasher safe but if you use normal sharpies you need to hand wash them) 
• Sticker letters 
• Oven set to 350 degrees

Directions and suggestions 

1. Wash your mugs and pull off the price stickers.

2. Place the stickers where you want. We did ours kind of like a step and kept them close.

3. Pick your color of marker and start placing small close together dots around the letters. When working with the silver sharpie we found that it was more liquid and pulled up by the letters. So with the silver marker less in more.

4. Work organically with the letters to create your shape. If you feel comfortable you could make shapes on purpose, like an apple, sun, leaf, or even a heart.

5. We were nervous to do the dots that weren't so close together. Carly suggested we make a "soft" circle around the letters so that way we have a guide. We aren't sure how either of us knew what that meant but we agreed that "soft" circle helped in the dots on the outside.

This is Carly explaining the soft circle.

6. When you are done with the dots pull the stickers off.

7. Bake in the oven on 350 for 30 minutes.

Allons-y

        The Girls of Gallifrey