Home Made Deodorant

I've never thought of actually *making* deodorant...the rock stuff works well for me...but this looks so interesting (and easy) I might try it sometime. ; )

http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2008/07/homemade-deodor.html

Cream Soups Base

Yesterday I made some delicious Cream of Spinach Soup, with fresh, organic spinach from my garden. It was SO good!

I found this recipe today, good for whatever fresh veges you have in your garden...well...maybe not lettuce... ; )

Base Recipe for Cream Soup

You can use this recipe to make cream soup from most vegetables. Consider this for asparagus, fresh pea soup, carrot soup, celery soup, and more. Since tastes and veggies vary, be ready to tinker with amounts until you have it just right. You can make hot or cold soup with this recipe.
This is a great recipe for summer when the garden is overflowing with produce.

1 sweet onion, diced
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups vegetables of choice, diced
salt to taste
2/3 cup cream
Sauté the onion dices in the butter until they are tender and translucent but not browned.
Add the flour and stir and cook until a soft paste has formed but not browned.
While still cooking, pour in 1/2 cup of the broth while stirring with a whisk. Gradually add the rest of the broth, stirring to make the mixture smooth and not lumpy as if you were making gravy. Continue cooking until the mixture is bubbly and has thickened.
Add the vegetables and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are soft enough to mash easily.
Pour two to three cups of the liquid into your blender. Puree the mixture until it is smooth. Continue in batches until the entire soup is puréed.
Pour the soup through a strainer into a clean pan. Press any pieces through the sieve with the back of a spoon.
Salt the soup to taste. Add the cream. If the soup needs further thinning, add water. Reheat and serve.

This is basically the same recipe I used, with the exception of garlic. My recipe called for minced garlic, so if you wanted to add garlic to your onion, feel free. ; )

(To give credit where credit is due, recipe is here. )

I kept thinking homemade croutons would be good with my soup, but I didn't have any, and couldn't find the recipe, so I made toast to go with it.

Asparagus

I picked my first *ever* asparagus today! I am SO excited! (The link has recipes and growing information...indeed, all the asparagus information I was thinking of linking to.)

I read in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last year (and I wish I had the exact quote) about her forays to the asparagus patch in April, waiting for the asparagus to come up. I've kept that in the back of my mind, waiting to use the information. ; )

Last fall I noted where I've seen asparagus fronds...it's easy to spot, next to the second of a row of metal posts, beside a railroad....odd place for it, I must say.... Anyway, I remembered where it was, and started stopping there to check for new plants as soon as April began. I'd forgotten to check a time or two when I passed, but last night I remembered, and today as we were passing I yelled, STOP!!! lol I am thrilled!

I want to try getting some started in my own garden...asparagus and rhubarb both, but since we're not yet sure about the new house and how it will change the lay of the yard I'm guessing I'll need to hold off on it. I'm hoping to have raised beds over most, if not all, of the yard eventually (less mowing!), and I suppose I'll have to wait a year or so to get a bed made for it.....looking forward to it, though...and in the meantime, I'll be watching for more asparagus fronds in the fall and checking those spots in the spring!

Dyeing Eggs Naturally

Dyeing eggs with natural dyes is SO cool!

We dyed some a couple years ago....the girls really enjoyed it, and I thought it was interesting. Plus, it's better for the environment than chemicals. : )

Cloth Family Wipes

Ever heard of cloth wipes...for the whole family? Yeah, I hadn't either...then I came across this blog which introduced me to the idea, and I did a bit more reading about it, and thought...EWWW! lol

BUT, the more I about it, the more I thought it my be beneficial. There are three girls in our family, and even though my DH said (and I quote), "Ain't NO way!" when I mentioned it to him, I thought if the girls and I used them *only for #1*, there should still be considerable savings on buying toilet paper (you wouldn't believe how much my kids use!).

While I was ruminating on all this my DH brought some old t-shirts to me and asked me to cut them into shop rags for him. Providential! lol I cut up a couple of Anna's shirts, too, that were stained. So we ended up with a pretty good-sized pile of cloth wipes as easy as pie!

I am LOVING them. A couple weeks ago I checked on the tissue paper, "We've got two packs left, use about a pack a week, so we'll be ok until the first of Feb." We STILL have one pack left! I'm thrilled! lol

(We are using them only for #1....I can't think of using them for #2 yet. lol)

Homemade Convenience Foods

I haven't done it yet, but I may put some of these recipes together, so I will have things on hand to use for *quick* meals. Right now if I'm needing a quick meal I'm still reaching for pre-packaged things...and I want to try to get away from that!

In the interest of healthier eating...Homemade Convenience Foods

In fact,this is such a good idea I may start keeping a bit of cooked rice in the freezer for making cups of soup!

Repurposed Chess Set

I LOVE this chess set!

I also love the idea of repurposing cast-off items.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of imagination. lol The chess set idea came from the internet, like most good ideas. ; ) (I did create this one, though. I just happened to have lots of little people around waiting to be used for something. lol)

BUT, maybe *you* have imagination...lots of ideas for repurposing junk...I'd love to hear about it if you do! If you're like me, though, and can't think of anything until you see it done then say, "What a good idea! Why couldn't I think of anything like that?!?" here is a blog FULL of good ideas! : )

Happy recycling!

Thrift Store Shopping

One way to save money...if you have a bit of self-control...is to shop at thrift stores.

I say if you have a bit of self-control because I know SO many people who have NO self-control and buy whatever is a good deal whether or not they can use it. ("I KNOW it's not my size, but I may lose weight and then it will be WONDERFUL!" "I don't really NEED another set of dishes, but they're BRAND NEW!") Oh, yeah...I could tell stories....

But, I don't want to tell stories, or put a damper on thrift store shopping.

Just remember a few tips and have fun!

I agree with all the tips except "Don't go with Kids." My kids LOVE going to thrift stores with me, and more often than not find things I would have missed. (The last time we went to the Salvation Army, Emma found a Don Knotts movie, The Reluctant Astronaut...for $1!)

GREAT Site!

My wrist is still hurting dreadfully, but I wanted to share this site I came across last night. It has wonderful articles and great hints!

Sage Mommy

I particularly liked the Frugality page.

Reusable Shopping Bags

I'll admit...I enjoy bringing home plastic bags from the store. They're so handy for cleaning litter boxes or picking up after the dog, or lining a small trash can. BUT, even with all the things I can think of to use them for, we simply get too many! I keep a glass jar (large pickle jar, if anyone wants to know) and when it gets full I stick the rest in a paper bag to donate to a thrift store where they re-use them. HOWEVER, even doing all that, sometimes I still want to simply not bring them home with me in the first place!

So I have reusable bags. Which I forget to take to the store with me. (I actually remembered last week...my first time!)

This site has lovely bags....if you're wanting to buy some.

I like mine free or next-to-free, and one of the best sources I've found is the thrift store.

First, find a good, cheap thrift store.

Next, look for bags like this one.

Once you've found your bags, look for any tears, rips, stains, dirty ick...anything that will affect your use of it.

Assuming you've found a good sturdy bag, buy it. Go ahead and buy it, and don't worry if it says, "George Washington Teachers ROCK!" on the front. We'll take care of that.

Don't pay too much for it. If you're going to pay a lot, you might as well buy a nice one and be done with it. I wouldn't pay more than $1, and that for a really BIG, very sturdy one. I would hope for .50 or .25.

When you get it home, wash it; carefully, some will shrink, although I've never found that to matter too much.

If it says something you don't like on the front, cut out a piece of cloth a bit bigger than the picture and sew it over it. You can make a patch (I've done one with cross-stitched cows cut off the front of a sweatshirt...they were too cute to toss when the sweatshirt was unwearable...I used a crossed stitch to sew it on), or you can leave the top open for an extra pocket. My aunt completely covered one with lots of extra pockets, but I thought that was over-kill. Besides, she was using a sewing machine, and I can't. So I simply hand-sew on a square and call it a pocket. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.

And there you have a personalized, easy, recycled, shopping bag which was practically free!

(Maybe I'll take pictures...I could get one and walk you through all the steps in pictures. What a good idea. Maybe.... Someday.....)

Green Goals for 2009?

I've seen several blogs with "Green Goals" posted....I think I'll do one, too...

1. Change all the light bulbs in our house to those squirrley ones.
Already Done. I bought two big packs and went through the house changing bulbs out. My DH came behind me saying, "Change this one back again, it's not bright enough over here for what I'm doing." lol (First rule of list-making...always start with something you've already finished so you can cross it off quickly. It makes the list go better. Just kidding. Since I'm writing this on the 9th I've already started accomplishing some things.)

2. Expand the garden.
Work in progress. I've spaded and spread rabbit droppings, but would like to spade up just a bit more before spring. *Someone* (not mentioning names here) has been coming up with plans for my garden spot...including building things on it. I am fighting for my space! : )

3. Plant some trees.
This is a hard one. I have seeds from several trees I'm going to attempt (as per my uncle's instructions) to grow. My uncle told me last summer how he grows new trees...I think he may see me as the one person in the family who might actually try to replicate his methods and save some of his trees from extinction. I have seeds for a VERY funky pear tree my mom hadn't seen for 40 years...I'd LOVE to be able to present her with one of those for her birthday! Tonight I picked persimmons to try to grow, too. I have cherries, apples,chinquapins , chestnuts, pears, plums and persimmons now.....now all I need to do is get them planted. I *think* they should be in the ground about now. (Don't tell my DH, but I'm going to plant a walnut tree, too. He's VERY allergic and mowed down my last one. This time it's going to be a secret. lol)

4. Remember to take my bags when I go shopping. It's hard to remember. I *did* remember one day last week, though! I'm so proud of me! lol

5. BLOG!
I am hoping to be able to spread the word about as many money-saving, energy-saving, healthy, happy things as I can with this blog!

6. Shop at the Farmer's Market more.
We started going more last year, and I enjoyed it SO much! Definitely on my list for this year.

There are probably more things I want to do this year that I'm forgetting for this list....but that's good enough of a start. : ) Now all I need to do *is* start......

Hydrogen Peroxide

Did you know you can use peroxide to whiten your teeth? I read about it in Countryside magazine, and told my DH, because he's always been self-consious about his teeth being yellowed (the result of living with two smoking parents for 21 years).

He tried it, and his teeth are SO lovely and white now! It's very simple, just hold a bit of peroxide in your mouth for a few minutes (5 or so) every morning. I use the cap to measure into, he just pours some in his mouth...just use the amount you're comfortable with in your mouth, hold it there for a few minutes, then spit. Consistency is key...it takes a couple weeks before you'll notice a difference. But it does work, and it's LOTS cheper than professional whitenings or even the store kits...healthier, too.

Homemade Cleaning Supplies

We're beginning a cleaning project this year....deep-cleaning the most heavily-used rooms in the house every month. We have four rooms we use most (2 bedrooms, living room and kitchen), so we're picking (at random, from a box) a room to concentrate on each week for a MAJOR cleaning. (I'm hoping DH will take the time to make a few minor repairs while we're working, too...hint, hint...)lol

Anyway, in the spirit of cleaning and saving money while you're doing it, I present links for home made cleaning supplies. Enjoy!


25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies


Homemade Cleaning Supplies

Not Money-saving, but still, Good...

Good for the environment, at least. : )


Recycling your old, scratched, or simply unwanted cd's and DVD's. AND their cases and inserts.

I think it's a good idea. Tossing them out has always bothered me...seems like there must be *something* you could do with them....now I know what!