Day #6 Chives

i love chives.

i love to eat them.

i love to smell them.

i love to look at them.

you buy one small chive plant and in no time at all they are everywhere!

i just dug up and transplanted my chives along the driveway where i'm trying to get some "natural" color.  i planted them all along a 200 ft. section and i think they will look beautiful each spring when they bloom and will fill in a nice thick green the rest of the summer.

and whenever i make potato salad i can just walk up the driveway and snip to my hearts content!

Day #5 Homemade

I have been slowly replacing the chemicals in my life with safer, healthier, homemade versions of products i use a lot.  here are a few examples and results:

deodorant

i have been using my homemade deodorant for quite a while now and i love it!  so far no BO!!!!!

6 tblsp. melted coconut oil
1 tblsp. almond oil
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. baking soda
about 25 drops essential oil ---so far i have only used peppermint because it makes me peppy---heehee

melt the coconut oil in the micro, whisk in the almond oil and then the dry ingredients & essential oil
pour into a container and let sit.  it will harden.

all ingredients are found in the grocery store except the essential oil i bought in the health food store.
i apply this with my fingers, it rubs right in and dries.  so far it has worked really well for me

shampoo

1/3 c. castille soap (liquid)  purchased at the health food store
1/3 to 2/3 cup water  (depending on how runny you want it)
2 tblsp. baking soda
1 tblsp. melted coconut oil
25 drops essential oil

there are a few different pre-scented castille soap or you can buy unscented and create your own scent with the essential oils.
so far i also love the peppermint, again because it makes me peppy!
i mix it all up and put it in a little squeeze bottle.  you can make larger amounts too!

air freshener spray

5 oz. water
1 oz. alcohol
essential oil--25+ drops

put ingredients into a small spray bottle--found mine at walmart.  a couple spritzes into the air does the trick.  so far my favorite scent is spearmint.  we only use this in the bathroom and i swear the house smells sooo much better.

bug spray

ok, this is AWESOME.  and i should know because we live in black fly and mosquito heaven!

again, i use a small spray bottle from walmart

4 oz. witch hazel
1 oz. sweet almond oil
essential oils:  citronella, lemon, lavender, peppermint

you can also use eucalyptus but i've heard you shouldn't use that oil on babies?  use at least 3 of the essential oils--about 15 drops each.
i spray this on my skin and rub in.  i spray it on my hair.  i spray it into my palms and rub it all over my face and ears.

no bites!!!!!! i so far have only been bitten in spots that i didn't spray (like one got down my shirt)
i am very impressed and so far have made and used a couple of batches.  the bugs hover, but do not bite.

i researched for these products and looked for simple recipes and then tweeked them. and i must say i am very happy with the results--especially the bug spray!

some essential oils are $$$$$  but i don't think i spent more than $10 a bottle. some were $4-$5.  but they last a long, long time and they are natural & pure.

Day #4 household pet peeves

These are currently my top 5 pet peeves around the house.  that would be my house or any house

1.  dishes piled up so high in the sink that you can't possible wash them without taking them all out.  if you can't wash them right away, then neatly stack them off to the side.  however, i have learned in my life that life is much easier if you just take the couple of minutes to wash a few things at a time now and then throughout the day.  btw  i've never used a dishwasher.

2.  laundry (clean or dirty) taking over the living area.  laundry is something that should be done every day. put a load in in the morning then move it to the dryer in the evening, or the reverse.  fold it and put it away or fold it and put it back in the basket and put the basket in the bedroom until you do put it away.  i tend to do laundry all week and then put it away one time.  but when we had five of us here i put it away daily.

3.  not being able to walk around barefoot in the house.  there is nothing worse than crumbs and dirt sticking to your feet!!!! yuck!!!  not to mention crawling babies and playing toddlers picking up all kinds of stuff off of the floor.  it takes 2 minutes to do a quick sweep once a day on the kitchen and run the vacuum over the carpet once a day.

4.  dirty kitchen counters.  now, i have white ones so i can see every crumb and spill.  but if you have dark ones you can't.  but just because you can't see anything does not mean its not there.  kitchen counters should be wiped down a lot!!!!!

5.  overly full trash can in the kitchen.  again, it takes 2 minutes to tie up the bag, put it out and replace it.  i'd say you should be doing that at least every other day if you have a family.


Now i will admit that i have a touch of OCD.  some would disagree with the word "touch"

it really does only take a few minutes here and there to keep your house "presentable"  i'm not talking about having a perfect, spotless home. just presentable.

i personally cannot function unless there is some semblance of order.

As a former stay at home mom i always tried to shoot for the house to look like i did accomplish something during my day. i know, i know, taking care of children is something.  but i'm old fashioned and always believed that a man should come home to an orderly home and a meal on the table. at the very least.

Day #3 Beaver Pond

There is a creek that flows through the woods across the road and then crosses under our road a little ways past our driveway.

we don't go in the woods across the road as much as we go in the woods out behind us.  it had been a few years at least since we hiked around there.  the logging roads are pretty overgrown and its not easy hiking.

recently a neighbor asked if we had been over there to see the beaver pond.  we had not.  amazing!  where once a small creek meandered through the woods a pretty significant dam had been constructed and acres and acres of land flooded.

my camera does not do the scene justice.

there is a fairly large looking beaver lodge way across from where we were standing.  i didn't have time to explore and get better pics, but this must have been here for at least a few years.  the pines were dying from standing in the water, but the water was teeming with tadpoles!  i bet its teeming with mosquitoes too, but since it is somewhat non-stagnant, maybe it won't be too bad.

so this is where all of the different sounds i've been hearing this spring and last year have been coming from.  just before we found out about the pond we had been discussing the loudness of the frog sounds were coming from across the road.  there were no ponds or vernal pools in there the last time we had explored.

the acreage that this pond is located on has been for sale since we've lived here (10 yrs.)  i've seen it advertised for subdividing and developing.  hopefully the beaver has put a damper on that for the time being!

day #2 feeling out of sorts

have you ever had one of those days where you just felt like you couldn't stand to be in your own body?

your clothes feel wrong, your hair feels wrong, even your skin feels wrong.

yeah, that's how i feel today.

it's been quite a while since i've felt this way.

i swear that it's directly related to what i eat.  i didn't eat extremely horrible this past weekend, but i didn't eat extremely wonderful either.

i also think that it has something to do with my anxiety too.  when my anxiety gets so high for too long i just feel like i either want to run off screaming into the woods, or just go to bed for a few days.

thankfully i have something to keep me from going over the edge in either direction.  something that gives my life purpose and direction.  something that keeps my mind occupied and makes me smile when i absolutely don't feel like it.

want to know what that something is?

post #1 My Day

I'm going to try a 30 day blogging challenge to try and get back into blogging regularly, so here goes day #1!

Saturday mornings are usually rough for me.  I work thursday and friday from 9 am until 7 pm (or so)  and then on fridays i sometimes go grocery shopping after work before i head out of town.  so on saturdays i am usually exhausted!  i'm not as young as i used to be, that is for sure!

Yesterday i had a busy day ahead of me and i was a bit grumpy about it, but i forced myself up and out of the house anyway.  A very special friend of mine organizes a Pink Tulip Festival in our little town (to support breast cancer awareness) so this was to be our first stop.

  A few minutes after getting there some of our family showed up with a few of my favorite things!  And my absolute favorite things in this whole wide world are my five grandsons!  this is charlie, grandson #4

                                 

At the Tulip Festival there was a plant sale (amazingly i didn't buy any), bake sale (i bought everyone pink cupcakes) and some John Deere mowers and such (grandson Joe loved them)  Seeing my babies improved my mood immensely!

We left the Festival and wandered around the farmers market in town.  i've been trying to make it there for the past couple of weeks, but like i said, Saturday mornings are rough :(  It's been a cool and damp spring here in Maine and the crops are slow in coming so far.  There was lots of seedlings and i did buy 8 basil seedlings.  I also bought some fermented probiotic stuff that a lady from Bar Harbor makes.  I'm gonna give it a try and see how I feel.

I decided that i wanted to go shop a little before we headed home, so we headed to Mardens and I bought an inflatable pool and some pool things for the boys.  Now i just hope we get some summer weather this year!

I then went home and prepared a delicious pizza casserole for our church supper club.  A group of ten of us has gotten together three times now to share a meal and fellowship.  Last night we hosted and we all had a wonderful time.  I am really happy that we have found a church home and family!

Well, there you have it!  My day!  

return to blogging?

i have my new laptop and i plan to start blogging again.  i'm going to do a 30 day blogging challenge for the month of june.  hopefully that will jump start me!

i have very little free time.  no....that's not true.  i only work 25 hours a week, but i fill up the rest of my time with babies, crafting, and gardening.  so really, i have no free time after that!

its still cold here. we've had a couple warm days.  its been a cool, damp spring right on the heels of a long, cold winter.  still everything has greened up and life goes on.