Buzz words these days - eco friendly, environmentally friendly, green.....well none of those words describe me.....but I do like to use products that protect my family's health. Here are a few ideas that use ingredients you probably already have in your home. Sometimes it's overwhelming to change your cleaning routine but start slowly and pretty soon your house will be toxin free and also clean!
MULTI PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER
Ingredients:
16 oz empty spray bottle
Purified Water to fill bottle
2 tsp. Sunshine Concentrate or glycerin - Sunshine Concentrate found on naturessunshine.com
Add a total of approximately 30 drops essential oils - these are also found on naturessunshine.com (these are high quality pure oils - it's worth it to get the best)
oils: tea tree, eucalyptus, pink grapefruit, lemon, pine needle, thyme, clove, rosemary, lavender,
I usually use at least 3 different oils.
Instructions:
Shake lightly.
Spray on counter tops including granite and sinks - Wipe up with a damp sponge.
Spray on windows and mirrors then dry with paper towel.
Spray lightly on a clean cloth and use to dust furniture.
When I say multi purpose, I mean multi purpose!
TUB AND SHOWER CLEANER
Ingredients:
Baking Soda
Multi Purpose Cleaner
Instructions:
Spray shower or tub with the multi purpose cleaner and sprinkle liberally with the baking soda.
Scrub with a good scrubbing brush.
TOILET BOWL CLEANER
Ingredients:
1 cup vinegar
Instructions:
Flush toilet and then pour about 1 cup vinegar into the toilet being sure to hit under the rim.
Let sit for half an hour.
Scrub well with a toilet brush.
To clean the outside of the bowl, spray multi purpose cleaner on tank and seat and around the base and wipe up with a sponge.
I's amazing how easy non-toxic cleaning can be!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Passwords, things that explode and scalloped potatoes
You know you've taken too long a break from blogging when on attempting to get on your own blog you forget the password and have to create a whole new one! This was me, today! I talked with my sister who chided me for not blogging more often. In telling her about my day, I decided to blog about it. But little did I know it would be tougher than I thought to get started. Time to sign in. I type my e-mail address in - I did know that much - then it was time for the dreaded password. I don't know about you, but this step scares me. I always use the same password even though "they" tell us never to do that - but it works for me only to remember ONE set of number or letters.....makes sense to me. That was all fine and good for a while but lately I've been discovering that my old standby isn't good enough for "some" web pages......"they" seem to be a little too high and mighty for my lowly but faithful friend. "Not strong enough". "Not long enough" are some of the words to discourage my little friend of so long. So I try something new - words and numbers placed in such an order and with so little meaning that once typed in are never to be remembered again!!! Well, apparently this was one of those web pages that wasn't happy with Old Faithful. So in getting creative, I forgot the whole thing. Of course, if I blogged more I wouldn't have forgotten it, but that's beside the point..... Repeatedly I try to get signed in while on the phone with my sister, not listening to a word she's saying because I'm panicking with each failed attempt at logging on to my own blog!! After a while at trying every combination of "Old Faithful with a twist" that I could, they add something just to test me. After I get the password correct (which they don't realize will NEVER happen), they say, I need to retype their funky shaped letters and numbers. Have you ever wondered what they trying to prove with that exercise? That I'm above the age of 5? What! So with the stress of not knowing my password and also not being able to read their strange letters and numbers I resort to creating an entirely new password. I do eventually figure out the letters and numbers for their silly little quiz and they let me through. With that said, once again I'll try to pen my life for you to read, hopefully laugh and maybe even relate to the ups and downs of life as a wife and mom.
Since my little girls aren't little anymore the horrific stories of diapers exploding, food exploding or most anything they touch exploding are basically over. My teenage daughters don't really "explode" anymore - or so I thought.
I had spent the afternoon getting some food ready for our church potluck tomorrow. I thought to myself, "Scalloped potatoes would be nice." Where do I get these ideas? I have never even made scalloped potatoes in my life. I never liked them as a kid and never tried them as an adult. But today apparently needed to be the day for me to turn over a new leaf. I'm never quite sure why I do the things I do, but that's the way life happens around me.
Well, first step, find a recipe where you have all the ingredients at home so you don't have to go to the store. The World Wide Web - I find one - perfect. I might be able to pull this off yet. I need to triple this recipe because it's for a potluck - we need lots of food. It takes a while with all that grating and chopping and layering..... but eventually they're done - lovely. I actually have NO idea how they might taste, but they look good which is good enough for me - I'm sure the church people will love them. I have a total of two minutes to relish in my accomplishment before one of my daughters asks, "Are there any for us? Like, can we take some of them out and eat them?" A little horrified with the thought of ruining my masterpiece by taking some of the potatoes out before serving the rest to the church - tacky, I respond with a flat, "No".
Next on the agenda. Dinner for us - scalloped potatoes are done for the church, now, what will we eat? I remember some soup I have in the freezer. "Yes, that will work well for a Saturday night dinner." Quite smug with my organization I continue on with my day. After a while the same daughter, whom I will now call my little scalloped potato head, asks, "Can we make some scalloped potatoes for ourselves to eat tonight? I love them." Not thrilled with this prospect - more chopping, grating, layering......but this time I answer, "OK", comes out of my mouth.
Now, while I had all the ingredients for the scalloped potatoes I didn't have what I needed for the banana cream pies that still had to be baked for the potluck. If you haven't noticed yet, this potluck thing is kind of a big deal..... But now I have a dilemna. I was going to have to go to town. Usually this is not too big a deal but today is Saturday. My hair isn't town ready. It looked, well, how can I say it, interesting. The ever popular "Saturday hairdo waiting to get fixed until AFTER I had exercised" hairdo. Thankfully right at that moment, my wonderful husband returned home and in hearing my little problem offered to go to the store for me. What a guy!! I consent. He sweetly adds, "Do you want to drive with me? You can wait in the car while I go in?" How can I refuse! "Yes", I respond. So off we go. We get to the grocery store and he takes the list - this is the kind of list I know he's going to mess up - not because he's inept in a grocery store, although.....but you know that kind of grocery shopping where you're going to stand in front of whatever it is and stare. Stare at the price, stare at the size, stare at the woman in the aisle who's also staring, just staring because you aren't sure what would work best....Maybe I'm the only person in the whole world that does things like that, but it happens regularly. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I worry about my husband in there with all those decisions to make. I'm sure he needs my help, I conclude. My hair and I enter the store. He was a little shocked to see me holding the bananas while he's staring at the potatoes..... and after seeing his stunned expression I was a little worried that he was ashamed of my Saturday hair, but he said he wasn't........ moving on. It took us a while of staring but eventually decisions were made and we returned home.
After putting away the few groceries for the banana cream pie, it's time to make a single batch of scalloped potatoes - AGAIN! I was getting pretty good at this so it didn't take too long. I had planned to exercise right after I was done. Good, things are humming now. A little bend in the road, another phone call - it's a long one - a pretty big bend....1 hour in fact. Now it's getting dark. The potatoes are pretty much done and I still haven't exercised. Shucks, I'll just have to shorten my workout......too bad! 25 minutes later I'm back. Immediately upon returning home - sweaty and all - my daughter - little scalloped potato head - asks, "What are we having WITH the potatoes? Like sausage or something?" Once again I'm amazed - I thought I'd done pretty well with making the extra scalloped potatoes, now she actually wants dinner out the deal! I felt justified in my feelings, so I respond, "I had planned on soup. Can't we just have the potatoes alone?" Sounds a little wrong but I go with it. She doesn't like that idea so I retort, "Alright, we can have some sausage - but it's frozen". By this time, the scalloped potatoes are sitting on the stove cooling rapidly and we're about to start working with frozen meat!! I suggest maybe hot dogs instead- that will be quicker. But we don't have enough of them for all of us, of course. Back to the sausage - with added hot dogs - why not!.....This meal is turning interesting. Then my little potato head says, "And can we have some green beans with that?" Why not! We've succeed in dragging out this "soup supper" into a full fledged smorgasboard!! "OK", once again, flatly. I tell her we need to put the potatoes back in the oven. (This unthawing ordeal could take a lifetime) Together, we truck out to the freezer and retrieve the sausage. Thankfully, little potato head helps me by finishing the meal because I get another phone call. Wonderful child. We eat, we enjoy. Everything's good. I guess things still explode around here, only now it looks a lot different. By the way, my soup is still thawing on the counter.
Since my little girls aren't little anymore the horrific stories of diapers exploding, food exploding or most anything they touch exploding are basically over. My teenage daughters don't really "explode" anymore - or so I thought.
I had spent the afternoon getting some food ready for our church potluck tomorrow. I thought to myself, "Scalloped potatoes would be nice." Where do I get these ideas? I have never even made scalloped potatoes in my life. I never liked them as a kid and never tried them as an adult. But today apparently needed to be the day for me to turn over a new leaf. I'm never quite sure why I do the things I do, but that's the way life happens around me.
Well, first step, find a recipe where you have all the ingredients at home so you don't have to go to the store. The World Wide Web - I find one - perfect. I might be able to pull this off yet. I need to triple this recipe because it's for a potluck - we need lots of food. It takes a while with all that grating and chopping and layering..... but eventually they're done - lovely. I actually have NO idea how they might taste, but they look good which is good enough for me - I'm sure the church people will love them. I have a total of two minutes to relish in my accomplishment before one of my daughters asks, "Are there any for us? Like, can we take some of them out and eat them?" A little horrified with the thought of ruining my masterpiece by taking some of the potatoes out before serving the rest to the church - tacky, I respond with a flat, "No".
Next on the agenda. Dinner for us - scalloped potatoes are done for the church, now, what will we eat? I remember some soup I have in the freezer. "Yes, that will work well for a Saturday night dinner." Quite smug with my organization I continue on with my day. After a while the same daughter, whom I will now call my little scalloped potato head, asks, "Can we make some scalloped potatoes for ourselves to eat tonight? I love them." Not thrilled with this prospect - more chopping, grating, layering......but this time I answer, "OK", comes out of my mouth.
Now, while I had all the ingredients for the scalloped potatoes I didn't have what I needed for the banana cream pies that still had to be baked for the potluck. If you haven't noticed yet, this potluck thing is kind of a big deal..... But now I have a dilemna. I was going to have to go to town. Usually this is not too big a deal but today is Saturday. My hair isn't town ready. It looked, well, how can I say it, interesting. The ever popular "Saturday hairdo waiting to get fixed until AFTER I had exercised" hairdo. Thankfully right at that moment, my wonderful husband returned home and in hearing my little problem offered to go to the store for me. What a guy!! I consent. He sweetly adds, "Do you want to drive with me? You can wait in the car while I go in?" How can I refuse! "Yes", I respond. So off we go. We get to the grocery store and he takes the list - this is the kind of list I know he's going to mess up - not because he's inept in a grocery store, although.....but you know that kind of grocery shopping where you're going to stand in front of whatever it is and stare. Stare at the price, stare at the size, stare at the woman in the aisle who's also staring, just staring because you aren't sure what would work best....Maybe I'm the only person in the whole world that does things like that, but it happens regularly. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I worry about my husband in there with all those decisions to make. I'm sure he needs my help, I conclude. My hair and I enter the store. He was a little shocked to see me holding the bananas while he's staring at the potatoes..... and after seeing his stunned expression I was a little worried that he was ashamed of my Saturday hair, but he said he wasn't........ moving on. It took us a while of staring but eventually decisions were made and we returned home.
After putting away the few groceries for the banana cream pie, it's time to make a single batch of scalloped potatoes - AGAIN! I was getting pretty good at this so it didn't take too long. I had planned to exercise right after I was done. Good, things are humming now. A little bend in the road, another phone call - it's a long one - a pretty big bend....1 hour in fact. Now it's getting dark. The potatoes are pretty much done and I still haven't exercised. Shucks, I'll just have to shorten my workout......too bad! 25 minutes later I'm back. Immediately upon returning home - sweaty and all - my daughter - little scalloped potato head - asks, "What are we having WITH the potatoes? Like sausage or something?" Once again I'm amazed - I thought I'd done pretty well with making the extra scalloped potatoes, now she actually wants dinner out the deal! I felt justified in my feelings, so I respond, "I had planned on soup. Can't we just have the potatoes alone?" Sounds a little wrong but I go with it. She doesn't like that idea so I retort, "Alright, we can have some sausage - but it's frozen". By this time, the scalloped potatoes are sitting on the stove cooling rapidly and we're about to start working with frozen meat!! I suggest maybe hot dogs instead- that will be quicker. But we don't have enough of them for all of us, of course. Back to the sausage - with added hot dogs - why not!.....This meal is turning interesting. Then my little potato head says, "And can we have some green beans with that?" Why not! We've succeed in dragging out this "soup supper" into a full fledged smorgasboard!! "OK", once again, flatly. I tell her we need to put the potatoes back in the oven. (This unthawing ordeal could take a lifetime) Together, we truck out to the freezer and retrieve the sausage. Thankfully, little potato head helps me by finishing the meal because I get another phone call. Wonderful child. We eat, we enjoy. Everything's good. I guess things still explode around here, only now it looks a lot different. By the way, my soup is still thawing on the counter.
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