Mountain Mama… Country Living
You will need:
Combine the water and the vanilla extract. Place in a mist bottle. To use, spritz some of the spray up into the air as needed to add the warm cozy smell of vanilla to the room.
I got this recipe from http://www.themakeyourownzone.com
Combine the ingredients in a clean spray bottle of at least a 16 oz size. Shake well to mix.
To use, spray onto wooden furniture and wipe off with a soft cloth to dust and clean the surface.
I got this recipe at http://www.themakeyourownzone.com
Youll have to keep shaking this mixture as you use it to keep the oil and water mixed together, which really isnt a big deal. You already have the bottle in your hand to spray it, just give it a shake too!
Friday these beautiful red winged blackbirds stopped by our feeders for a little snack. They are usually the first birds to return in the spring. They are a week earlier this year than last year. Hopefully, that means an early spring. However, this morning was no indication that spring is on its way. Wind chill temperature -10 degrees with snow on the ground. Well, the snow is gone now and the wind chill now is 5 degrees so we are warming up some.
Not much going on here. I have started work on Sam’s quilt. I have all the 5 x 5 in. squares cut out and am ready to start sewing them together. School has went well this week. Did I mention to you all about the last batch of homemade laundry soap I made using the laundry bar soap instead of fels naptha? Well, those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that in the past I have had trouble with the homemade laundry soap. My clothes seem to get a dingy look and the towels became really non-absorbent. I know, strange stuff, but strange happens a lot here. I guess it is our water that causes these problems. Well, so far I have had no problems using this batch. It is a little bit different recipe than I have tried before but I think the real difference is using homemade laundry bar soap. I will try to remember to keep you all updating as to how it is doing.
Well, I better get busy. Church tonight and the menu is baked potato bar. Sounds delicious to me. I really like baked potatoes. Enjoy your Sunday and God bless.
1 Bar of Ivory Soap, Fels Naptha, or homemade laundry bar soap-grated= I use 2 cups grated homemade laundry bar soap
4 cups of Water
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
3 Gallons Warm Water
1. In a saucepan, bring the 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the grated bar soap and stir until the soap is melted.
2. Fill a large pail or container with the 3 gallons of warm water. Add the washing soda and the borax. Stir until mixed.
3. Add the melted soapy mixture from your saucepan to the pail and stir.
4. Transfer to smaller containers, or cover your mixing container or pail with a lid, and let set for 24 hours, giving it a few stirs during that time.
4. Use 1/2 cup to 1 cup per load.
I have found that 1/2 cup does most normal loads but for heavily soiled laundry I use 3/4 to 1 cup.
I got this recipe from http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2010/10/homemade-laundry-soap-what-you-need-to-know-plus-2-recipes.html
Homemade Stain Remover (Shout)
Mix everything together and pour into a spray bottle.
Before you go to use it if its been sitting for awhile, shake it up. To use: spray on stains as you normally would. Then launder as usual.
I got this recipe from: onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/12/homemade-shout-stain-remover.html
Recipe and instructions are found here http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/a-laundry-bar/
Homemade Laundry Bar:
Coconut Oil & Lard Recipe
lard 16 ounces or 453.592 grams
coconut oil (76-degree melt point) 16 ounces or 453.592 grams
distilled water 12.16 ounces or 344.73 grams
lye 5.191 ounces or 147.155 grams
Coconut Oil & Crisco Recipe
Crisco 16 ounces or 453.592 grams
coconut oil (76-degree melt point) 16 ounces or 453.592 grams
distilled water 12.16 ounces or 344.73 grams
lye 5.134 ounces or 145.538 grams
These are two pound recipes.
I am finished with the quilt. This will be for Alexius (oldest granddaughter on her birthday). Next I am starting on Sam’s. His birthday is next. Last week seemed to go by quickly. We got our haircuts and enjoyed a nice afternoon with Faye and Gene. The girls and I went to Sam’s one day to get stocked up on a few things. Hubby cut wood while we were gone. Imagine that, choosing to cut wood over going shopping! On another day, we did some more electrical for our friend that is moving. And before we knew it the weekend was here.
So now, school is finished, outside chores are done, the girls have taken a walk on the tractor road and supper is in the oven. Wow, how good is that! Tonight we are having something new. I bought some marinated turkey breasts at Sam’s last week. We are baking one of them for supper. It smells awesome.
I wanted to share this picture with you all. You remember a while back when I made the comment that our pond was overflowing. Well, we finally figured out why. A duck has somehow got sucked into the drain pipe. Not pleasant, I know, but strange things do happen. Marvin told me he read somewhere that if he fell in, he had 20 min. before hypothermia set in. I told him I’d be watching and if he fell in I would let him know when his time was running out but to make sure he got the duck out while he was in the water. (lol) Anyway, they are trying to get the drain unstopped. So far, no success.
Well, I think that is about all that is going on around here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Cheryl Holcomb’s recipe-
1 bar soap grated, 1 cup each of baking soda, washing soda and borax. Mix together in food processor. Use 1 and 1/2 T. per load.
Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a great day so far. We have worked on half school today as we are going to get haircuts this afternoon. I found this new recipe for bread and so I am taking this loaf to Mrs. Faye as a thank you for cutting our hair. We also plan on sharing these cinnamon buns with her.
I got this recipe from http://redfarmhouse.blogspot.com/search?q=one+rise+bread.
I also wanted to share another new recipe I am trying. I got it from here http://belovedsbride.blogspot.com/ I had a beef roast to put in the crockpot this morning. Amazing how things work out that way. It sure does smell good cooking.
Another new thing I did last month was bake our bacon in the oven. Jess does this all the time so I thought I would give it a try. We buy our bacon at Sam’s in a 3 lb package. Last month, I baked the entire package at one time. Instructions are here: http://blog.makezine.com/craft/kitchen_101_cooking_bacon_in_t/ I then froze the precooked bacon. Wow, I’m thinking, why hadn’t I thought of this before. Now all I have to do is get out the amount of bacon needed for breakfast, heat it up in a skillet or microwave and ta-da bacon is ready. I am impressed with how fast it is and how crispy the bacon is. Of course, the instructions on the post said to throw away the bacon grease that accumulates in the pan. I’m sure that ain’t right! I would never throw away good bacon grease. Mine is in a jar in the fridge and has already been used several times. Once, for some refried beans I made the other day that was delicious.
Well, that’s about it. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a good week so far. We have definitely had an assortment of weather types here this week. The first of the week was beautiful, warm. Our temperature one day was 70 degrees. It felt like spring. I hung clothes out on the line. Then the rain came-in buckets. We had heavy downpours of rain and high wind. Now the cold is here. Our temperature this morning is 10 degrees. We have wind gusts of 50 mph, wind chill temps below zero, and snow on the ground. It is very cold.
School has went well this week. On Wednesday, we helped a friend by changing some light fixtures. They are moving into a new place and are doing some small upgrades to the place before they move in. We took our school with us. As I have said before, this is one of the things we love about homeschooling. School adjusts to our schedule not our schedule adjusting to school. It was a nice day. We did a lot of catch-up as we had not really seen them in a while.
Well, I guess that’s about it. Stay warm and God bless.
