Sunday, June 7, 2009
Where does the weekend go?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Spring can't come fast enough
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Green has many shades
I admit that I have dug something out of the garbage that another family member has thrown away because they were too lazy to walk out to the garage and put it in the bin. I also let these family members know that I don't like digging through the garbage and in the future either get off your lazy butt and walk it out to the garage or get a whole lot better at hiding it in the can, because I'm on to you.
Last year I decided to get a little more serious about my use of plastic and started making my own laundry soap.
Laundry Soap
Hot water
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar Soap (grated)
In a large pot, heat 3 pints of water. Add the grated bar soap and stir until melted. Then add the washing soda and borax. Stir until powder is dissolved, then remove from heat.
In a 2 gallon clean pail, pour 1 quart of hot water and add the heated soap mixture. Top pail with cold water and stir well.
Use 1/2 cup per load, stirring soap before each use (will gel).
It's been 5 months now, and for the most part, it's working quite well. It doesn't make suds and that was the hard part to get used to, because to me (and most people) suds means clean. I also found that it isn't quite cutting the dirt on my husbands work shirt collars. So I told him to start washing his neck better :) and then I found a recipe for a pre-treater/stain remover, so now we're good to go. I feel a little bit better that I am not putting any more of those big plastic soap containers in the land fills, plus the cost savings is a bonus, too.
Stain Remover/Pre-Treater
1 part rubbing alcohol
2 parts water
Combine the ingredients and spray on stains. Let the solution soak for a few minutes and then launder as usual.
I've also started making my own shower cleaner and window cleaner. I hate scrubbing the shower and absolutely loved it when they invented the stuff you spray after every shower. I never had to scrub again! I was in heaven! But I was also buying a bottle every other week and the cost and all that plastic, finally caught up with me.
And then last summer I got into composting. Because we have a septic tank and a garbage disposal, which some say is a no-no, I got to thinking, why am I not composting all the food scraps so I have some lovely compost for my garden?
I really tried to be diligent about it, every correct food scrap that should have gone into it, went into it, and I rolled it as I was instructed. After the whole summer I ended up with about a 5 gallon bucket of compost. My husband wasn't too impressed with that puny amount of compost. But I'm thinking I wasn't doing something right. I didn't have enough carbon. Or was it nitrogen? As you can see, I need to get serious about this and do some reading about it.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
When good ideas go horribly wrong.....
I like to dream that I have one iota of her talent at baking and photography. She makes the most scrumptious and fantastic things, tells you how to make them, all the while making it sound so easy, with phenomenal pictures.
Well, one day I thought I would give it a try.
Apparently, some things are better left to the professionals.
I must be missing the baking chromosome or something because my reindeer pops certainly didn't turn out like hers. My family was very kind and said they were cute, but I think they were just being kind to me. And all the time they were eating them, I'm sure they were snickering behind my back!
I take great comfort in the fact that no young children, ran screaming from the room in terror.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Pass the plate
If you haven't seen this before or don't know how this works, let me share this excerpt from the Kitchenaid website.
"Turn your passion for cooking into a passion for helping the fight against breast cancer. Join Pass the Plate, a new element of the Cook for the Cure® program that raises funds and inspires others to support the breast cancer movement.Purchase a specially marked plate, created by KitchenAid and Villeroy & Boch, and register it online. Make one of your favorite recipes, put it on the plate, pass it to a friend, and you’re on your way to making an impact.KitchenAid will donate $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® every time a plate is passed and registered. Pass the Plate in honor of someone special—or just to help make a difference."
http://kitchenaidoffer.com/passtheplate/
On Christmas, I gave "my plate" to my sister who had a double mastectomy last spring. Since you have to register the plate, you can also track where the plate has been. I just checked and 'my plate' has been passed 8 times since Christmas! Woohoo! I already got another plate to pass around, I think I just might have to get a couple more. What great gifts they would make.
If you have time, check out the KitchenAid web site and maybe order one for yourself.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
More Etsy
I don't like my scarf flapping around in the wind and thought this might be something I'd actually finish. We'll see.......
I finished up a few new pouches for the shop over the weekend and will be listing them tonight. I wish I could talk my husband into taking the pictures and doing the listings, all the stuff I find tedious, but he just won't jump at it, no matter how fun I make it sound.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Etsy goodies
It's tough sometimes, choosing which fabric to make my things from. If I pick something that I really like and get all excited over it and then it sits in the shop for months, I begin to wonder what the heck is wrong with MY taste? But then someone comes along and buys it and I feel better! Taste is so subjective and it's difficult to predict what someone else likes, so it's just easier to make what I like and hope there are more than oddball me out there liking this stuff. It's also tough when someone says they want something in blues and browns and you send them a picture of all your blues and browns that you have on hand, to let them pick and emails fly back and forth and in the end they pick a pink and green combo! Go figure, but I guess that's what makes the world go round!