Craft Corner:Cracked Marbles

It has been very busy around here, so I thought I would take a quick moment to share one of the craft projects we worked on. My daughter wanted to try out cracking marbles and my son has a bunch of marbles, so I borrowed some of his.
For this project we used some cats eye marbles, colored marbles and flat glass disks. You can get them at the dollar store, along with some other glass pieces that will be fun to use as sun catchers.

Directions:
Bake marbles in a 500 degree oven for 25 minutes
Submerse in ice cold water and watch the cracking begin! The blue ones cracked really well and look great. Don't try using dark colored marbles the cracks won't show up at all. The disks would be cool used in the glitter glue magnet project we recently did.

This is a little sun catcher we did with the blue marbles. It really sparkles in the sun light. Plant pokes are a great addition to the back yard plants! 

All of the projects we do around here are re-purposed items from around the house and shop.The copper wire we used is some coax cable my boyfriend had in his shop. He was able to strip it down pretty quick using his vice and a utility knife. You can do it by hand with a exacto knife and some pliers

Party Time!: Buddy's Minecraft Party

My son loves Minecraft so, I figured that would be the perfect party theme for him. I enlisted the help of my oldest daughter and we hit the internet. I found a few good ideas on some Pinterest Boards and some from just doing a Google image search. Here's what we came up with............

Invitation envelopes that my daughter did. I made them out of construction paper and they turned out crooked so, this what how she fixed it!

The banner was a free printable from http://www.thepartyanimal-blog.org, so make sure and check them out for ideas too!

 Got the idea for the food labels from many different places but, couldn't find any printables, so I used a Minecraft font and printed them out. I didn't have any heavy paper so I glued them to construction paper.

The bags are creeper faces made with squares of construction paper I glued on and mini creeper head confetti for the table!

The water bottle labels say creeper juice on them and I added just a drop of food coloring to the bottles for the picture but you could refill the bottles with green kool aide.

The pig I made using two dollar store pieces of poster board and squares of construction paper for the face.

Yummy Minecraft cake made by a family member.

The creeper head box we used for the pinata and pin the tail on the pig!!

Ghastly the ghost I found a picture of on Google images. It didn't have instructions but, this was simple and took about 30 minutes to make.

Minecraft Spiders I make with balloons and crepe paper from the dollar store!

Happy Crafting!!

Welcome To My Garden!:A Comaprison

I have really come love my garden,it gives me such great pleasure to be out there watering,weeding and harvesting. The pay off was good, but could be better. This is my first attempt in many years to plant a garden. I am rusty to say the least and have spent a lot of time online reading gardening articles and forums to make sure I do it right.
When it came time to plant the fall vegetables my boyfriend put up a greenhouse for my to try out. I decided that I wanted to plant the same vegetables in both places and see which one yielded better results.
Pictured below are the radishes that I planted out in the garden, they aren't near as big or mature as the green house ones.

The peas and beans are doing fairly well, I think they show some promise. The lettuce and spinach did not come up at all. Even though it said the planting time was right I should have waited a few more weeks for the peas and beans to provide a little more shade for the lettuce.

The vegetables in the greenhouse are looking fabulous! I absolutely love the greenhouse.
Here is the radishes (that I just harvested) and lettuce. There is some spinach tucked in there too and more yummy lettuce farther down the row. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of that.

The beans and peas are doing well, the beans are getting their first little flowers. Down in the last basket is some more radishes that recently came up. I also have two tomato plants in here just to see if they will make it.

 I have never had a greenhouse before and I really have no idea what I'm doing. I figure I will read what I can and trail and error the rest of the way!! So far I have been successful and my boyfriend is already trying to come up with more materials so we can build another green house. I want more green houses and more room to grow in and I will be a happy girl.

Gardening has been so good for helping to further heal my broken soul. I guess it has something to do with needed to nourish stuff I don't know but, I do know it helps me feel more connected to earth and myself.

Happy Gardening

Using Fresh Herbs:Infusing Oils

If you have ever grown mint or Lemon Balm you know how crazy and fast it grows! I only plant one of each plant and have of a lot more of  it than  I know what to do with!
 I have recently found a few recipes for infusing your own oils at home. Now that  I am making my own skin care products I see where this is going to come in handy. Any of the oils that you would use to make lip balm  for example, can be infused with the herb of your choice and then use way less (if any) essential oils. It is very easy to do, it just takes a little time. So this is how I am doing mine.

Items needed:

Dried Lemon Balm       I used mine that I  dried for about 24 hours (or you could buy it)
A glass jar with a lid     Make sure they are clean and dry, before you start.
Olive Oil                          I like Olive Oil because it has a low rancidity rate

I filled my jar about 3/4 full with the dried Lemon Balm and then poured in olive oil until it just covered it. Put the lid on and date it with a done date of 4 weeks from the day you make it. Store in a cool dark place and shake once a day or whenever you remember. At the end of 4 weeks you will take it and strain it through cheese cloth into a jar. Make sure you squeeze out all the oil from the leaves in the cheese cloth, waste not want not! If it doesn't smell as strong as you want you can repeat the process using your finished oil and adding in more dried Lemon Balm and let sit for another 4 weeks. Two months is a long time to wait for the finished product, but it will be worth it!. I should have started doing this earlier in the summer and it would be ready now for winter crafting Store your oil in a dark container if you can other wise a cool dark place is good.

Happy Crafting

Welcome to My Garden:Happenings in the Garden

Last weeks load of tomatoes is going to be made into tomato sauce and stored in the freezer. I am just not getting enough tomatoes at on time to can them. It is so much work that I really want a larger haul of those little beauties before I bust out the steamer/caner again.So far I have only gotten about 6 pints of tomatoes canned and that was in two batches of three pints each and a couple jars of salsa and of course the tomatoes from last week. 

These tomatoes made me 2 quarts of freezer tomato sauce that turned out yummy! I just cooked down the tomatoes all day in the crock pot with about 6 cloves of garlic, a whole yellow onion, a couple handfuls of fresh basil and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Today's harvest includes a couple of jalapeno peppers that I will put into some fresh salsa I am going to be making later. The rosemary will go into the freezer for seasoning dishes throughout the winter months and with all the cucumbers I have gotten and ones from friends I will be making a cucumber salad.

Love harvesting out of the herb garden! Today's haul is a whole bunch of lemon balm and that's not even close to how much I actually have!!! I planted two lemon balm plants in the herb garden and have many baby lemon balm plants in the back yard from before when I just had one plant in a pot and kept moving it around my flower beds!!

The lemon balm is going to be dried for use later in lip balm and tea. Right now I am infusing some of the lemon balm I previously picked in some Extra Virgin Olive oil so I can make some cold sore lip balm. I will post more on the lip balm later! I still have to get the mint picked and prepared to dry. Maybe I will fit that into today's chore list.  

Happy Gardening!!

Craft Corner: Yard Art

I have been busy around here lately just working on some yard art. I found a big gear looking think in my boyfriend's dads' yard and saw a fun flower and it took off from there. Here is the first one I did using the gear and some shelf dividers we also found in his yard. I am still looking to add something to the center but haven't found the right piece yet.

This next flower is just a old saw blade that I put a watch on, wrapped in fishing line and a couple of beads. The petals are made out of some scrap wire from Russ's shop and the spider I found the inspiration for on Pinterest. 

This is a work in progress, but I wanted to share it. It is an old fryer basket from a restaurant that my daughter got for me. I did a dream catcher in the center and put a beaded spider that my oldest daughter made.Now I just need to make some petals for it and find something for a leave on the handle to help it look more like a flower.     

Here is a close up of the little spider she made.

Welcome to My Garden:Update

I had really planned on sharing more about my gardening experience, but just didn't have as much time for it as I thought I would. I did have a good harvest, but it wasn't a big one. I thought I would have a lot more tomatoes and bell peppers than I got. Don’t get me wrong I have a lot of tomatoes I just don’t get enough at one time to can them like I wanted, so next year I will grow more plants. This year I did 2 early bird varieties, a Roma and two cherry tomatoes. The Roma’s ended up the size of the cherry tomatoes so I really ended up with a huge harvest of tiny tomatoes.

I am very pleased with my first harvest and am excited to see how I do with my fall garden. I used a web site called www.sproutrobot.com  to find out what could be planted right now according to my zip code.  This site is awesome it tells you how to plant in a garden or container and whether you need to direct sow or start inside!

I was gifted a greenhouse this summer, so that is all set up and planted too. I am growing all the same stuff in both places I figure I won’t fail in both places, so I get some food out of this grow! 

Here is a quick peek at my garden it is already much bigger with the beans, peas and radishes are going crazy!I also planted radishes, cucumbers, lettuce and spinach to round it all out! I am also trying to grow a couple of tomato plants out in the green house.

I have decided to not add any fertilizers to my garden I am just using egg shells on the top of the soil to deter creepy crawlies and give some calcium and then the Epsom salt water spray on the tomatoes. So far my produce is growing well without any.

For What Ails you!:Eucalyptus Shower Discs

The weather is changing just a little here in Northern California and with it comes the dreaded cough and runny/stuffy nose. With a toddler in the house it can be pretty frustrating when they can't sleep , so when I found this recipe I was thrilled! I don't own one of those humidifiers, so I just take one of these little disks and put it in her bed. I put it by the top of her bed after she falls asleep and it puts of fragrance all night long. I use a half of one in her bath before bed too! They work great in the shower, but the fragrance doesn't last  very long.

Eucalyptus Shower Discs

Ingredients:

1 cup Baking soda
1/3 cup Water plus a little extra
Eucalyptus essential oil
Rosemary essential oil
Lavender essential oil

Tools Needed:

Bowl
Muffin tin
Muffin liners


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Put baking soda in bowl add the water ( if its too thick slowly add more water a tsp at a time) until it's thick. Put the liners in the muffin pan and then spoon in the paste. I just equally divided it up and it made 6 disks. It might make more using a smaller pan. I may have to try using a mini muffin pan next time! Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven let cool completely before removing liners from pan.Once they are cool add 15-20 drops of each essential oil to the disks and then seal in an air tight container.

For What Ails You!: Herbal Chest Rub

With cough and cold season up it is a good time to get the medicine cabinet stocked with some all natural cures. I just made up a batch of this herbal rub for my Grand daughter. She has been coughing just at nap and bed time and instead of reaching for the Vicks on her I found this recipe.

Herbal Rub

Ingredients:

8 ounces of olive oil

2 ounces of bee's wax

Eucalyptus essential oil

Lavender essential oil

Camphor essential oil

Directions:

Warm olive oil over a double boiler. Melt bee's wax gently in the olive oil. Remove once the wax is completely melted. Pour into a container, add essential oils, and cover until it hardens. I split mine into two containers so I could make a batch of each.

Adult Strength

40 drops eucalyptus essential oil

30 drops camphor essential oil

10 drops rosemary essential oil

Child Strength

40 drops eucalyptus

30 drops lavender

This stuff works really well for my grand daughter I just put it on her chest and back after bath time and then once I put her in bed I rub some on the bottom of her feet and the cough is much quieter. 

Craft Corner: Up-cycled Brochure rack

My boyfriend found this old rack in his Dad's yard and brought it home to me. I am having a lot of fun taking old stuff and up cycling it into something else. So, I decided to paint this as it was all rusty, and not so pretty! I had a lot of fun painting it and my daughter and I made all the hanging little adornments. I still need to figure out what to do with the top baskets. The fairy garden I made out of a piece of bark and the other log with plants on it, was a gift.

I Tried That!: Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies

I should have posted this earlier in the year. This is a great recipe for when you want something sweet, but don't want to turn on the oven!

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal

Directions
Bring sugar,cocoa,butter and milk to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute then add the peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. Remove from heat and drop by rounded teaspoon fulls on a piece of wax paper. Let cool until they are hard. I put mine in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes because we can't to dive into them. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Craft Corner: Refurbished garden bench

My boyfriend found this wonderful old bench that was in need of a new home and a little love. This was a family project, as we all took turns with the painting. We were able to make use of some left over paint from other projects, so this project didn't cost anything and it was fun.

My grandsons trying out Nana's new bench!

Healthy Living: No bake energy bites

No bake energy bites

Ingredients
2/3 cups toasted coconut flakes
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup local honey
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Stir all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Chill in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Roll into balls (a melon baller) works great for this). Store in airtight container and keep refrigerated.

 My son loves these and will happily have them in his lunch for snack. I don't remember where I originally found the recipe, but it's a keeper!

Happy cooking!!!!

DIY: Body Wash

I love body wash, but I don't love all the harsh chemicals that come along with it. So I got a bottle of Dr Bronners Magic Soap and made my own body wash. I bought the peppermint one because I am using it as a household cleaner, as well. A word of caution, peppermint gives of some heat, so do be careful not to get the body wash into sensitive areas of the body. I would recommend that you buy the baby mild liquid soap as the base for the wash and then just add essential oils in for fragrance.

Body wash

1 part Dr Bronner's

4 parts water

Directions:

just mix and put it in a squirt bottle. I used a empty liquid soap dispenser and it works great.

If your going to use essential oils I would recommend about 20-30 drops per 1 1/4 cup wash, 

but it's all up to you. 

I tried that!: Whole wheat pancake mix

Whole wheat pancake mix

ingredients:
5 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 TBSP Baking powder
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp salt

Directions:
Whisk all ingredients together and store in an air tight container.

To make pancakes
1 cup of the mix
1 cup of milk
1 egg
2 TBSP oil
Mix until well blended.

The mix is a little runny when you first make it but, if you make it ahead of time it gets a little thicker as it sits. Once it thickens up a little it works great for waffles too! I have used this mix just I would for any Bisquick recipe and it works just the same and is much cheaper to make!

I tried that! Make your own produce bags from t-shirts

Produce Bags

Supplies:

old t-shirts ( I used my 7 year old son's shirts that he grew out of.)
A pair of scissors
sewing machine



Directions:

First; you are going to cut off the neck line,bottom seem and arms of the shirt.I cut the neck line shallow for this bag. Second; turn the shirt inside out and sew the bottom up.If you have a surger sewing machine I would surge it first then sew it for extra hold. Now just snip rows of small holes down the length of the bag for breathing and your done!
Happy crafting

I tried that!: DIY dryer ball

I stopped using dryers sheets at the beginning of this year as part of my pledge to live a more sustainable life style. Here is one I have been using for about a month that seems to work.

Aluminum foil dryer ball

Supplies:

Aluminum foil

Directions:

Cut off a sheet of aluminum foil big enough to make a ball the size of your palm. Crunch the foil up and put in your dryer. The ball does shrink down after the first run through the dryer so don't make your ball too small or you will need to make two and that's it.

I tried that!: All Purpose Citrus Vinegar Cleaner

Lemon Rosemary Citrus Cleaner

Ingredients

distilled vinegar
lemon peels-just the peels and pith, not the edible inside parts.
fresh rosemary, 3 or 4 sprigs
vanilla extract (optional)
essential oils (optional) adding a few drop to the spray bottle will help with the vinegary smell

 Supplies
jars or other containers that you can seal
spray bottle (the bigger ones are best)
a funnel
a wire mesh strainer or mason jar lid strainer for filtering out the fruit and herbs from the vinegar when done.

Begin by preparing the lemons, I found it easiest to cut up the lemon into quarters and then peel the skin off the sections. This way it comes off fairly easily and cleaner. You don't want any of the edible part, as it will cloud your solution and make it sticky. Add in 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, a couple rosemary sprigs, and the fill to the top with lemon peels. Pour in enough vinegar to cover all the peels, cover tightly and let for 2 weeks ( or as long as a month), shaking the jar every few days to redistribute the contents.Strain jar and store for up to one year.
Dilute the concentrate before use by mixing in a spray bottle at a rate of 1/3 cup of vinegar concentrate to 2/3 cups water. Add 3 or 4 drops of essential oils to enhance the scent. Not recommended for marble or granite surfaces.

I tried that! DIY Hot tigers balm

I love Tigers balm it relieves my aches and pains just as well as Ben Gay with out the smell!!So when I found this recipe on Pinterest for it I was excited, as Tigers balm can be expensive.

Hot Tigers Balm
Ingredients
1 oz beeswax
1/4 cup almond,coconut or olive oil
10 drops camphor essential oil
9 drops peppermint essential oil
8 drops eucalyptus oil
5 drops cinnamon essential oil
5 drops clove essential oil

Directions
1) Combine beeswax and your choice of oil in a double boiler on low heat.
2) Stir mixture until it completely melts.
3) Pour mixture into a glass container. Do this before adding essential oil, because the oils evaporate quickly.
4) Add your essential oils and stir. Quickly so the oils don't evaporate out!
5) Tightly seal lid and wait until mixture hardens.

I was unimpressed with this particular recipe for Tigers balm. I don't feel any heat at all and have recently rewarmed my balm and added 5 more drops of camphor and eucalyptus and still no heat. However, I did find that it helped with the pain in my shoulder. I will be trying another recipe for it soon and will let you know how that one turns out!

Craft Corner: Fourth of July Windsock

I was inspired to make this windsock after seeing one recently on the internet. 

I used three plastic table clothes from the dollar store and my boyfriend made me a ring out of some scrap wire he had lying around his shop and a bit of fishing line to hang it! First I cut the table covers into about one inch wide strips ( I didn't unfold the table covers). I used a hitch knot to attach the pieces of table cloth and because I did use dollar store stuff a single layer broke when I pulled it tight to the wire so I doubled each piece just to make things easier! It did take me about two hours to complete this project as it is fairly labor intensive. Happy crafting!

I tried that!: Vinegar and Dawn tub and shower cleaner

Today I came across a miracle bathroom cleaning solution that I haven't tried yet using warm white vinegar and Dawn dish washing liquid. Ingredients: 12 oz white vinegar,12 oz of blue Dawn dish soap.Directions: 1) warm up 12 oz of white vinegar in the microwave. (2) add in  12 oz of Dawn dish soap (the blue kind) and mix together. (3) Put this into a spray bottle and then spray down the tub and/or shower let sit while you clean the rest of the rest of the bathroom and then scrub and rinse.  This stuff worked really well, however, the smell was more than overwhelming for me. I had to cover my face with a wash towel because I was gagging so much I thought I might get sick!

I tried that!:Homemade dryer sheet

  This didn't work work as well as I had hoped. But here is how you make it, soak a hand towel in liquid fabric softener. Squeeze out as much of the excess as you can then let the towel dry over a chair in the house or outside on the clothes line. I dried mine inside and it took about three days for it to dry our completely. Be sure the towel is totally dry before using it. Then just throw in the dryer with your clothes. It should last about 40-50 loads.

  I have been using this for 5 loads of laundry and I have noticed it is not helping much with the static (mostly with polyester) and the scent is hardly there. I don't know if brand makes a difference as the person didn't specify but I use Downy Ultra fabric softener.  

I tried that!: Organic weed killer spray

I was thrilled to come across this recipe! I don't like having to poison the earth with toxic chemicals but, at the same time I don't enjoy pulling weeds.

Organic Weed Killer
1/2 gallon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup table salt
1/2 tsp Dawn liquid dish soap

Mix and pour into a spray bottle. Spray weeds thoroughly.



 Yesterday I mixed up a gallon of it and sprayed all around the beds in my garden and around the front yard.

This morning all of these little weeds in the above picture were dead! The one pictured below where still fairly green first thing this morning but now they are looking sickly! I think it's working pretty well I am pleased enough that we will not use round up in our yard again!!

Welcome to my garden!:Progress

I am amazed how well everything in the garden is doing. I was so worried that I would over/under water and kill it, but I have a green thumb when it comes to houseplants and this isn't that much different! I spent a little bit of time looking up how to care for each plant so I have a good idea of who needs how much water and so forth.
 I haven't yet put any fertilizer in the garden. I have been using an Epsom salt spray on the tomatoes and peppers and the peppers are looking good! There are about 8 on the plants right now and more coming!

 Last night I had to have my boyfriend add some more wire around the tomatoes. They are getting big and have lots of new fruit. All bugs are being controlled with an all natural spray that I made myself and it is very effective. I can't wait until we are harvesting fresh tomatoes.

 The basil plants are doing well they are however, looking a little bare after yesterdays harvest!

 I have also added cucumbers to the garden. I know the timing is not right but they don't get too much sun right there and I can always build them a little shade shelter if its not enough and if they die that's ok too!

 I just recently found a website that tells you when to start seeds according to zip code. This will be very helpful come fall because I want to try some fall crops this year! No reason to stop gardening because summer ends!!

Happy Gardening!

I tried that!: All natural bug spray

I have always been one to not want to spray chemicals bug repellents on myself or my family. Last year I went with an all natural repellent that I bought at the health food store. While the product worked well the scent was not one I could deal with. So I found an all natural one online using essentials oils and I love it! The smell is great, my seven year old likes it so well I finally had to put it up because he was spritzing himself with it all day!!

Bug Off

Ingredients
4 drops citronella essential oil
4 drops of lemongrass essential oil
4 drops of eucalyptus essential oil
4 drops of mint essential oil
1/4 cup witch hazel

Directions
 Add all ingredients to a spray bottle (I used a plastic one but, glass is fine too!) Shake well before each use!

I tried that!: Time Out Bottles

My daughter and I decided to make these for my youngest son and my little granddaughter. I use the timeout method and find that a little quiet time is perfect to help reset a situation where the little ones are throwing a fit and are out-of-control. 

You will need an empty bottle or bottles, one bottle of glitter glue,some fine glitter,food coloring, and super glue for the tops when you are done!

Now fill the bottle 3/4 of the way full with water. We put about 3/4 of a bottle of glitter glue  in the big bottle and the rest in the the smaller bottle. Next we let kids add some food coloring to the bottle, just don't add to much or its hard to see the glitter. We added some super fine glitter and some regular glitter to the bottles. I didn't measure how much of each but it was about 1/2 a packet of the fine glitter and a whole tube of the other. 

Shake well and see how long it takes for your glitter to settle if it is falling to fast add more of the glitter glue until you have it timed right and then glue on the lids with some super glue and send them with the kids to their time-out place.

These turned out good the first time through, it take a little bit of shaking for the glue part to dissolve but by the next day the were working perfect! The big bottle takes 8 minutes to settle and the little one takes two minutes! 

I tried that!:DIY Taco Seasoning

I have decided this year to stop using packaged taco, chili and stew mixes. Its time I stopped cooking with all those extra additives and such so, once again I went to Pinterest and starting looking for recipes to make my own. Here is an excellent taco seasoning that my picky 7 year old actually likes and its super easy to make!

Taco Seasoning

1/2 cup chili powder
1/4 cup onion powder
1/8 cup ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon sea salt

Mix together and store in a container with your other spices! Happy cooking!

Welcome to my garden!: The Plot

Welcome to my garden!: The plot

   I don’t have a lot of sun in my yard for a garden but I have desperately wanted one for years. This year I decided I wanted to try and utilize the small patch of full sun that runs beside my driveway. My next challenge was to put together a garden as cheaply as possible.  So I found a web-site that has lots of interesting ways to reuse pallets and one way was to use them laid down flat and plant in them.  I loved that idea as it is cheap and fairly easy, so I showed my boyfriend the picture and asked him if he could help me get the pallets and fix them up. Well after a couple of hours of hard work I actually ended up with some raised beds made out of the pallet wood and the fencing material and posts came from my boyfriend’s dad’s house.  Love my recycled garden enclosure!!

The sticks all along the top of the fence are to hopefully deter the deer from jumping the fence and enjoying my garden. So far I have 5 varieties of tomatoes, jalapenos, Anaheim chilies,basil,rosemary,cilantro,peppermint and lemon balm. I was going for a salsa garden but there are always more things I want to grow. I have been spraying the tomatoes and pepper plants with Epsom salts and water and have about 8 peppers and two tomatoes growing! I have lots more room to add stuff and I plan on adding more as the summer goes along and look forward to trying some winter crops too!

For what ails you!: Brat diet pancakes

Recently my 16 month old granddaughter was ill with the stomach flu and a bad case of diarrhea so we put her on the brat diet.  If you haven’t heard of the BRAT diet it is bandannas, rice, applesauce, and toast.  Luckily she isn't a very picky eater but rice is one of the things she dislikes so I was talking to her mom about what else to do instead because the other stuff isn't as filling for bed time. She mentioned that she had once made BRAT pancakes for some of her younger siblings, who were picky eaters and that they ate them without any fussin! So this is how I made mine.

Ingredients

Pancake mix  (I make my own whole wheat mix)

½ cup mashed up banana

½  cup plus 2 tbsp applesauce  (I did put cinnamon in mine)

½ cup cooked rice (I put a little bit of ground ginger in the water I cooked the rice in)

I left out the oil that the recipe calls for but I did add the egg.

Mix all ingredients and cook on a griddle using pam instead of oil or butter.

My batter came out a lot thicker than the traditional recipe does so I did have to cook them longer.

My granddaughter liked them so much she was eating them without syrup or butter which is what you want!

Note

My Pancake mix calls for 1 cup mix, 1 cup milk, 1 egg and 2 tablespoons oil, I replaced the liquid with the bananas and applesauce plus a little extra applesauce to replace the oil. 

I tried that!: Natural Floor Cleaners

Now that I am out of store bought floor cleaners I have tried two different floor cleaning recipes from Pinterest. I know that there are many different natural floor cleaners on the market but I into making my own cleaners and getting rid of the chemicals.

The first floor cleaner I tried is just two ingredients one of which I don’t enjoy the smell of so I wasn't sure I would like it. I was very surprised to find that the vinegar wasn't in the least bit overwhelming!

Floor Cleaner  #1

1 cup of white vinegar per gallon of hot water.

Mix and mop!

This did a great job and left no odor behind.

Floor Cleaner  #2

1 cup of white vinegar

1 tbsp dish soap

1 cup baking soda

2 gallons of hot water

Mix and mop!

Did a great job, as well; I did feel the need to run a clean mop over the floor when I was I done. The baking soda seems to leave the floor a little dull looking, but it powered through the messes of a 7 year old and a toddler!

I tried that!: Vinegar and Baking Soda Cleaning Spray

This year part of my New Year’s resolution is to be a better steward to Mother Earth. I decided that I was tired of cleaning with such harsh toxic chemicals. I always felt a little light headed after cleaning the bathroom so; I decided to try my hand at making a homemade bathroom cleaner. I went to Pinterest and found a super easy recipe made with ingredients I already had on hand.

Ingredients:

2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp Dawn dish soap

4 TBSP white vinegar

400 ml warm water

Directions:

Stir/shake to mix well. Use a spray bottle for optimal usage.

Seems pretty straight forward: however, my first problem was in converting the milliliters into cups (should have used ounces) I found conflicting results so I just went with the first amount 1 ¾ cups. I do a lot a baking so when I started to measure the ingredients I put in my dry ingredients followed by the warm water and dish soap so far so good! Next I poured in the vinegar (forgot I was mixing volcano ingredients) this is what started to happen………

I slowly added all the vinegar and put the top on the bottle and the directions said shake so I did!

 After it was done erupting I had about a half a bottle of cleaner left! The cleaner works very well but I did notice that it left a film behind so I did have to wipe the counter again with a damp cloth.

The next time I made this cleaner I first dissolved the baking soda in the warm water in a container. I added the rest of the ingredients and let set for awhile before pouring into the spray bottle. It was way less volatile this time!