Things We Use Everyday

No doubt about it, I LOVE Essential Oils.  I've been using Essential Oils for about 2 years give or take a month.  I did a lot of research and I'm still doing research.  I started with the cheap ones, because why not?  Why waste money on something that you don't know if it will work like someone says it did for them.

So... just know, if EOs work for me in one way, they may or may NOT work for you in the same way.  I'm not a Doctor and I can't remember the last time I stayed at a Holiday Inn (I know Hubby and I did on our honeymoon 34 years ago.)  Just like Rx meds and their side effects, some people get them, some don't. More on my research into EOs later.

Today I want to tell you about three ways we use EOs everyday.

1. Flavored Coconut Oil for Oil Pulling

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave

 Melt the oil at 30 second intervals.  I love these tiny Ball jars for this stuff, they fit well in the medicine cabinet too.

Add 30 drops of Young Living Peppermint EO

 If I'm using EOs for anything that goes ON or IN my body I use Young Living.  Their oils are Therapeutic Grade which means you can ingest them.  This peppermint oil is great in water too.  Drinking water can freshen your breath.

Stir the Peppermint oil in with a toothpick.

 Taste the oil from the toothpick, need a little more? Go for it!

Put it in the Fridge

 After it hardens, it's ready to put in the bathroom cabinet.  Scoop out a tablespoon and start Oil Pulling!  You've never Oil Pulled?  Read about it HERE

After cooling it looks like the jar on the left

2.  Coconut Oil with Thieves EO.    That's what the jar on the left in the above picture has inside.  I melted the coconut oil just as above and added 30 drops of Thieves Oil
then it's cooled in the fridge.  I use this oil combination everyday.  I just scoop out a less than teaspoon size dollop and melt it in my hands.  Then I rub it on my feet and legs and let it soak in while I'm getting ready for work.  

As you know I work in an Elementary School as the School Secretary.  I sit in what we call Vomit Row.  Not a day goes by that a child doesn't stroll past my desk with a trash can under their chin, or they are ailing from something worse.

Honestly I haven't been sick in close to.... 7, 8, 9 years?  I can't remember.  No I haven't used Thieves all those years but I have for the last two.  Just one more layer of protection against those germs that adapt all the time.  I have noticed (in the last 2 years) that I don't get my seasonal respiratory stuff anymore!  Could be the Thieves.  It's an immune booster.

3.  POO SPRAY - this is the item that Hubby will bring me the bottle from the bathroom when we run out.   "We're outta POO SPRAY!!!"  After Hubby's cancer in his sinuses he can't tolerate the smells of commercial made air fresheners.  They are repulsive to him and give him a headache.  They can't be good for you. 

I use a 4oz blue GLASS bottle

 Use glass because EOs tend to erode plastic over time.  You know how old Tupperware feels sticky?  Yeah, that's what happens.  The colored glass (blue or brown/amber) protect the EO's potency.  Light weakens EOs.  It's the same reason our meds come in amber bottles or solid white from the drug store. 

Add 30 drops of Lemongrass EO

Notice I'm using a different brand EO.  Yeah I'm going with a cheaper brand, it's not going on my body.  It's going in the potty!

30 drops Bergamont

 You don't want to put this brand EO in your mouth, trust me....  I thought about calling Poison Control that day that I did.  What I do in the name of research.

30 drops Grapefruit, mmmmm yummy

 You see how I'm holding the bottle here?  This is the proper way to measure out a drop of oil.  By holding the bottle straight up and down you will get the same size drop with every drop.  I just couldn't take a picture and show the name of the oil in the other pics and I'm not a professional photographer, I'm not even an amateur.

Top off the bottle with water.  Tap water, it's going in the potty.

Put the top on the bottle, shake well before each use and spray!

I got these bottles on Amazon.com.  I may have bought the spray nozzles separate there too.  We keep a bottle of this in each bathroom.  We use it like the famous potty spray that is quiet a few dollars more to buy than this stuff is to make.  (Those bottles of EO will last you quiet a while.)  You can spray it in the toilet before you go, or you can spray it as a room freshener after you go.  It works great either way.

I keep a small bottle in my purse too!

Let me know if you make your own flavored Oil Pulling blend or Poo Spray.

Next time, we'll talk about how I've used the same DISPOSABLE razor for 9 months now...  it's still going strong, and NO my legs are not nicked and hairy.

Stay warm!

Reader Request - How to make laundry detergent

Awhile back a reader wandered onto my blog and asked me in the comments how I made laundry detergent, an adaption of this recipe.  Here is my method of making an inexpensive laundry detergent. You will need:

• Glass small mouth quart canning jars (3) with lids
• Arm and Hammer WASHING SODA (not baking soda)
• Borax  - these two items are usually in the laundry detergent isle at the grocery store.
• Fels Naptha, Kirks Castile, Dr. Bonner's or Ivory SOAP - you must use SOAP.  Anything other will not work and will leave a horrible residue on your clothes.
• An old wooden spoon that you'll dedicate to this task (don't use it with food after this.)
• A large pot to cook the detergent (you can use this pot again if it's stainless steel)
• Measuring cup
• Ladle
• Cheese grater 
• Essential Oil in your favorite scent.  I LOVE pink grapefruit.  I also use one of the least expensive I can purchase. 
• A Oster type blender.  The blender base of an Oster blender will fit on a small mouth Mason jar.  Blending is the final process for this detergent.

Here are my items, I used a bar and a half of the Kirks Castile soap this time.  I've used all the different types of soap that I listed above at different occasions.  I think my favorite type of soap to use would be either Ivory or Dr. Bonner's.

Grate the soap, 1 bar, this takes a while, watch a movie.

 I've used a food processor before and burned it up!  It also creates a lot of dust so you have to run it outside, but worse, you don't want to breathe this dust and there isn't anyway to keep from it.  (I grated the soap into the pot that I was going to use, but then had to transfer it into another container. 

Measure out 1 cup Washing Soda and 1 cup Borax, mix together well.

Add 4 cups of water to the pot and pour in the grated soap.

Cook this over medium to medium high heat.  Stirring constantly.  WARNING:  Don't let this boil over!  Don't take your eyes off the pot.   It will make an epic mess.  I speak from experience.

Once the soap is completely dissolved and melted into the water, remove from the heat and add the Soda/Borax powders.  Stir these together until they are completely dissolved.  You CANNOT leave any grains or it will cause you to have grainy detergent. 

Still a little grainy.... keep stirring.

Get your jars ready, I set mine on some cork trivets and I place a large metal spoon or knife in the jar to absorb some of the heat so the jar won't break.

Fill the jars equally with the soap liquid (goo).  I use a filling funnel for canning because I'm kinda messy and I can't pour straight. (See how smooth the ladle is, no grains)

Fill the jars equally with the soap liquid (goo).  I use a filling funnel for canning because I'm kinda messy and I can't pour straight.

At this time add your Essential Oil.  I've used Lavender before and it's really nice, but my favorite is Pink Grapefruit. Stir well and add water up to the shoulders of the jar.

The clothes come out of the dryer or off the clothes line smelling so nice when I add EO.  To each jar I add about 30 drops.  This is why I use a cheaper oil then the more expensive Therapeutic Essential Oils

Put the lids on the jars and invert them.

Don't ask me why but this is what she says to do in the original recipe.  Let them sit like this for 4 hours.  NO LONGER, trust me, it makes the blending process toooo difficult.

After four hours it looks like this.

It's so solid on the bottom that I have to poke it with a skewer to break it up to get the blender attachment on the jar.

Blender attachment on the jar.

Blend it!!!

Here is the first jar blended, but for some reason, it still had a lot of chunks in it.

So, I dumped all three jars into my big Kitchen Aid mixer and went to town whipping it into a smooth and creamy goo.

I spooned the goo back into the jars and capped them.  Ready for the next 9 to 10 months of laundry!!!

To use I have a little jar that I put about a 1/2 cup or more of water into,

then I just scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the Laundry Goo.

Then I whip the water and Goo together with this little whipper, you could just put the lid on the jar and shake it up.

The reason I do this is because we have hard water.  Very Hard water.
 

Then just dump it in.

 We also have a washer that doesn't have a fill cycle that I can place the detergent under the incoming water as is described in original recipe.  (Probably something you'd have to do if you have a front loading washer) By me blending everything in water first, I don't end up with residue on the clothes.  I also only use this detergent when I wash in warm or hot cycles.  Never in cold, which is a total disappointment.   Darn that hard water, I have to use a store bought liquid detergent like Meyers.

My husband once did the price breakdown on the cost per load (he's mathematical like that.)  He said this detergent costs......  brace yourself.....  $0.06 per load.  SIX cents!

That's why I do it.  I was using the huge jug (with a spigot) of detergent from SAM's and going through one of those every 3 months.

I've been using this detergent for almost 3 years now.  I had tried the dry method for a year(everything in this except the water and cooking) first before switching, and I really like the Goo better.

Let me know if you try it.  I know it seems like a long process but the results are worth it.

Well it's 2016. Now what?

Yeah, I'm still here.  Still lurking in the sidelines.  With the new year now in full swing, I thought I'd try going back to blogging.  Not that I have that much to blog about.  Yeah, that will keep the readers coming back for more!   

It's not like we were under a rock or anything since the last time I posted.  Here's a list of the things that have happened in the last 4-5 months:

• August - School started, that's really the beginning of my year.  This marks the 18th year for me, which means I only need to complete 3 more full school years and I can retire.  My calendar at work has the 'weeks left' noted in the sidelines.  I'm in count down mode!
• My husband notifies me that he is interviewing for a new job.  It's in Austin.  He'll commute.
• My husband gets the job!  Of course he does, he's really good at what he does.  He will be staying at his parents house in New Braunfels (a hour and a half commute, one way, to the new job) until we find a place for him closer to the job.  He'll come home every other weekend.
• Mid August-September - We start looking for a small house in the general area of where the Hubby is working.  The daily drive back and forth is so expensive (the tollway around Austin is quicker than the 2-3 hour drive through Austin) and will be super hard on him after they go to extended work days (12-14 hr.) in January.
• We find a little house, it's ridiculously expensive for the limited square footage, we're looking for under 600sq. ft.  We make an offer, we get it inspected.  It fails inspection on EVERY level.  We pull our offer unless....  the seller drops the price by $30K or she repairs everything on the inspection list that didn't pass using OUR contractor and to OUR specifications.  
• The seller doesn't like our offer and we are done.
• October - We find other houses, they are either former meth labs or they are in the Bario or they are next door to a trucking yard with semi-trucks hauling white rock 24 hours a day!
• Plan B.  We look for property, with water, electricity, sewage....  The Hubby is on the computer constantly looking, I can't do it anymore, it's consuming my sleep.
• We find a lot that we can build on or move a tiny house onto!  We make an offer, a cash offer.  BAM, it's gone off the market never to be seen or heard of again.  WTH?
• November - Issues with the new company, Hubby learns that he can get 'written up' for the stupidest little things.  Who does he work for, the company he's employed by or the company that his employer is contracted to?  Hmmm?  One company says you have personal time off, the other says that you only have 4 vacation days per year because of who you are employed by.  I'm so confused.  Hubby's getting a funny feeling.
• December - Well at least we can take a break from looking for a place to live.  I'm still getting rid of all the STUFF in this house even if we are staying here. 
• End of December - Hubby gave his notice (along with 6 other employees), the company wanted to renegotiate his contract.  After the 'negotiation' someone said "should we write him up for that?"  Hubby looked at them as if it were a joke, it wasn't.  He had to remind them that he had quit the day before.  
• January - I guess they have been writing him up for a week now.  Must be satisfying to someone.

The New Year new plan, who knows.  Fly by the seat of our pants as we always do.  I'm just glad I didn't take a job with a smaller school district last Fall.  As always, everything happens for a reason.  Every year gets better too.

My plan for this blog.  Wow, did you feel that long pause in the typing.   It's no secret that I despise shopping.  Shopping is a necessity, we have to have food so that's the exception, but I'm not a person that casually pops into a store because I'm bored.  If I can keep from leaving my house once I get home, I'm a happy person.

I'm getting to the point...  I try to make what I need from what I have at home, it's sort of a challenge to me.  People ask me how to make things and I tell them.  I am always having people tell me "you should have a blog."  I want to say "I do, it's dead!" but I don't, I just smile at them.  Well, the blog's not dead, just a little stagnant.  I'm going to try to revive it.  To purify it's stagnancy.

Here's the point!   I hope it's not going to be too boring (it can't be any more boring than the last few years have been) and I hope some of you will try a few of the things that I have made and that we now use on a daily basis.  Maybe you'll find a little joy in making it yourself.

I'm going to warm up the camera and start taking pictures.  It's too bad, I'm a horrid photographer.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Happy New Year!

I'm sorry....

I just haven't had much to say, so I didn't.  But here are a few pictures.

Who climbs up on the phone company box?

Her safe and cool spot.

I love terracotta and I love the sun.









I need to weed the flowerbeds, but not today.

They need a drink.

I'm not ready to think about winter.

Bare feet in the grass, mmmmm heavenly.

I'm sorry that I've neglected you.

It's not like I've been sitting under a rock.  I blame work, FaceBook, Pinterest and knitting on the neglect of my blog.

Work always sucks the most time away from me.  I still have a hard time accepting the 30 minute drive in either direction.  When you count those precious minutes that I could be doing something else, those minutes add up.  It's not like the drive is a pain, even though I come near death at least once a week... A-hole drivers usually in a Beamer.

I do enjoy my pod-casts, The Budget Minded Traveler, and The Daily Travel Podcast, for when I have the time to travel more and farther from home, and of course This American Life and Selected Shorts, it's kind of fun being read to like a kid.  Makes the drive more fun too.

I'm still having a lot of fun at my job, it's very action packed and the days go by rather quickly with all the 'action' going on at this school.  They could make us into a reality show.  I also get a little knitting in at lunch.

If you are friends with me on FaceBook then you are pretty much aware of the things that have been going on in my life and you also know how it feels to neglect your own blog. FaceBook can kill a blog.

In October or November I can't remember, my long time friend Judi and I took a road trip to Branson, MO

Great trip! Lots of laughs, ER trip can't have a good trip without a visit to the ER, Duck Boats,

Lucy and Ethel or Thelma and Louise?

Paddle Wheel Boat show, Hypnosis Show where Judi was the star and most entertaining participant (she could have signed autographs after the show but she was too busy guarding her shirt full of 'money' crumpled dinner napkins), antiquing, pretending to know people and asking for selfies with complete strangers.  Ghost Tour, vineyard tours and picnics why would someone call a store a vineyard? There were no grapevines involved, we ended up having our picnic behind the Amish Store in the car.  We'll do this again, not the eating behind the Amish Store, the Branson trip.  Who knows, we may eat behind the store again.

Then Thanksgiving and the guy's birthdays with Jeff and Jody.  Jolea was working in Austin.

Then three weeks later school is out for Winter Break.  Jolea gets attacked....

This was the first day.... it got worse, a lot worse!

But the girl had to work so she dressed up and made the best of it.  When things get rough, throw on a wig and a costume and go for it!  She had the biggest black-eyes 3 days later when she showed up at our house for Christmas.  Jeff was helping a friend transport her car back to Arizona so he was in Flagstaff for Christmas, he flew in a couple of days later.

On Christmas day, Jolea and I took one of our whirlwind road trips Allen-Houston-New Braunfels-Austin.  Fast and furious!  We did take time to stop at a Stryker Jersey Farm on I-10 out of Schulenberg on the way to New Braunfels.  Pretty cool set up, very laid back to say the least. Great cheese.  I wish I could have picked up milk for yogurt.

Then it was back to school, we're on the down-hill slide part of the year.  It'll be over with before you know it.

Spring break is right around the corner but I haven't decided if I'll go out of town or not....   I do have a family trip planned the week after.  Mike, Di, Nita and I are meeting in Fredericksberg.   It's going to be great, Lots of vineyards to visit, lots of shops to explore, lots of eating!!! I promise to post on this.

I'm knitting....  but I'm handing off things before I bother to take a picture of it :(    I made a Painted Hills Shawl
sent that off to Nita for her birthday in November.  I'm working on another one but with thicker yarn for myself.  I knitted Jolea a cabled buttoned headband and caps for both Jeff and Jody, Jody's has earflaps.  I know Jeff wears his because he was wearing it when he showed up at our house 2 weeks after Christmas.  I have no idea if Jody wears his but he's been working nights on the roof of a Wal-Mart for the past 3 weeks and I'm sure he's had the chance to try it out.

I should be stating "Hello, my name is Judith and I have 7,392 Pins."   Don't judge.  This is one of the reasons I don't do drugs, when I do something I go to the moon with it. You've seen my yarn stash, my craft room, do you want to see my pantry full of mason jars?  Trust me...

If you follow me on Pinterest then you know the time suck that has become, although I do try to only Pin on Sunday afternoons, I used to Pin every night! So, I'm doing better.  Jody gave me an LG tablet for Christmas... now I can Pin in my sleep.   I have some really good stuff in there! OH MY it's Sunday! let the Pinning begin.  

Now you know why I've been neglectful.  I'm sorry, I'll try to do better.  I've also been dabbling in Essential Oils.  If you are interested, I've done a lot of research on a lot of brands.  I'm using Young Living Oils, I like the fact that they own their own farms as well as the manufacturing facilities and keep up with the purity of their products.  If you have any questions, let me know.  I can hook you up, or as Jody says, "do some voo-doo on ya!"  Shhh, don't tell him I have a witch doctor head-dress in the yarn closet.

Have a great week, or month, which ever lasts the longest before I'm back.  I'm sorry!  Check out my Pins while you wait. I feel like I should have you sign a waiver...

Finished Objects

I can't believe it's the middle of October!!!Where does the time go?

Seems like school just started a few weeks ago.  I really haven't been knitting much, I always plan to but for some reason I run out of time.  FB is such a time suck, and if you really want to burn up hours in a day get on Hay Day.   I have a pretty nice farm, I hate it.  Hay Day can eat up hours and hours of precious knitting time.  The bastards.... they make it where you can't see the time on your phone while you're playing.  That's just evil.

One of our teachers at school had a baby girl just a week after school started.  She'll return to work tomorrow after her maternity leave is up.   I made these for her.

I looked for the longest time trying to find a baby bootie pattern that was different.  Hope they fit the little cutie.

I also made these slippers last night.

I use a shrunken sweater!  Yeah, I hate throwing out expensive yarn even when the sweater I made with it shrinks to where I can't wear it anymore.  I'd made the sweater about 15 years ago.  The yarn was some from Aunt Shorty's stash and must have been a little on the old side because is sort of started shedding.  Then after a couple of washes it was shrinking up, even with careful washing and drying.  So I tossed that baby in with the towels on hot and it went down to a felted size 4 toddler.   I should have taken a before pic, but I totally forgot about the blog.  I felted the sweater with the intention of making either mittens or slippers.  It just took me 13 years to do it.

The tops are actually the sleeves, the back of the sweater was large enough to make the inner-sole and the heel bands.  I had picked up the leather soles at the LYS years ago.  They are really cozy!  I have another sweater in mind to make another pair and I promise that I'll do a step by step tutorial when I make them.

Oh yeah, I finished these socks about a month ago.  Ready for when the weather turns cold and I need some wool socks.

The pattern is from http://sailingknitter.blogspot.com/
Nice easy pattern to take on a trip.  Hmmmm maybe I will.

Nah, I've got more pink baby booties to make.  Seems like everyone around is having little girls.  I'm also working on a sweater that I've had in mind for quiet some time.  It will be plenty to work on while on the road.

So, Wednesday I'll be off on a road trip with a good friend and former co-worker.  We're off to Branson, Mo. for a few days.  More to come.

Have a great week!