logo
cuppacocoa
August 24, 2018

“JO. I just wrote one of your posts for you,” Ben said, bursting into the office as I mindlessly scrolled through Facebook. He had an excited and boyish look on his face, and I was just happy to see that he was so happy.

“What?” I asked, glancing up.

“Ok, are you ready? It’s called Life Hacks with Jo,” he began, serious as ever, “and you can tell them about what you did in the kitchen.”

“What did I do in the kitchen?”

“With the cake!”

“I didn’t even make that cake.”

“I know! But you stored it so nicely,” he exclaimed. “You should share it!”

I wasn’t convinced. Would people really want to hear a little tupperware trick?

Then earlier this week, a friend offered me a slice of cake. Her husband pulled out some Snapware to store it, and I mentioned my little trick. After an initial look of confusion, he tried it out and remarked, “Hey, that’s a good idea! That makes it way easier to serve!” And I decided it was about time to let you all in on my little amazing life hack, along with four other simple (but useful!) things that will hopefully make you think, Why didn’t I think of that?

read more

November 15, 2015

Display Kid's Art (5)

My quest for the perfect art display solution began about half a year ago, when my child glued this masterpiece together:

Abstract bear

I loved it. While other parents carefully guided their toddler’s hands to place everything in just the right place, I simply helped her rub glue onto the loose pre-cut pieces and then let her have at it. I call it her Abstract Bear, and I love it. I loved it so much I put it somewhere super special… and now I can’t find it. Thankfully, she has since produced more artwork, and I have been only too eager to find a special way to showcase her talents.

I scoured Pinterest for ideas, looking for a solution that would meet the following requirements:

read more

June 9, 2015

New pillow covers

Guys, this is my fourth post ever in the “homemaking” category. I’m not sure whether to celebrate that or be embarrassed by it. You may not have even realized I used to have “homemaking” as one of my blog categories, along with education, parenting, food, and marriage. That’s because one day, I realized that I had dozens of posts pertaining to my other passions, but only three– yes, 3– on homemaking. And that’s when I realized I’m nowhere near expert at making homes. But HEY, I got my craftsy on today, and I made the home look brighter and fresher with these new envelope pillow cases!! Isn’t that a remarkable face-lift?!

read more

March 27, 2014

DSCN5076 resized

You’ve probably seen wine charms before. If you’ve got a bunch of friends over and bust out the fancy glasses, charms are a useful way to keep the drinks labeled. The thing is, when we have friends over, we’re usually not drinking wine. We’re drinking water or juice or something, but we have the same issue of mixing up glasses! Sure, if it’s a wholeeee bunch of people, we’ll go with plastic and a Sharpie, but if we’re having several friends over for brunch, what’s the solution? You guessed right: Glass Cup Charms!

read more

March 20, 2014

We all have it. That disorganized drawer stuffed full of user manuals and instruction booklets.

the drawer

You buy a new toaster oven, glance through the user manual, then tug open that heavy drawer and squeeeeze it into the bulging pile and hope the drawer closes… just one more time. Yup. I know exactly where that drawer is in my parents’ house, where it was in our previous home, and where it was in this house. Because I avoided that drawer. Is this pot dishwasher-safe? Hmm… probably says so in the manual, but…. eh. I don’t want to look for it. Or maybe you just broke your very expensive blender and are desperate to know how long the warranty is. Already flustered and very nervous (hubby will NOT be pleased to know you broke the machine after 7 years and 1 month, especially if the warranty was for 7 years (which it was… go figure)), you sift through piles and piles of manuals only to realize it’s. not. there. BUT WAIT maybe you missed it, let’s try again! Your frustration increases as your pile somehow looks twice as big as it started. Where is that thing?!

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had your manuals, instruction booklets, random back-of-the-packaging-with-important-instructions, DVDs and other relevant items all lumped in one place, ready to turn to whenever you need?

read more

March 3, 2014

TL;DR: Hate killing bugs? Buy the Bug Zooka. It’s great.

bugzookaIf you dislike catching, killing, and/or squishing bugs, you’ve come to the right place. If you always wished there were some bug-catching device that didn’t require you to get near a bug, watch the bug die, or even kill it, but still effectively helped you get rid of it, look no further. What I am about to share will change your life.

read more