Showing posts with label essential oils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essential oils. Show all posts

Friday, April 19, 2013

Week 15 & 16

This week has been a little crazy. We have had great weather this week in the 70's and 80's. We have been outside enjoying the weather a lot!

I decided last weekend would be MY LAZY WEEKEND. I didn't do anything but RELAX! I had my movie line up and snacks ready! I'm got my "chores" done early so I had nothing to do!

Since I decided to do all my chores early I wanted to make sure all the laundry was done. As I put the load in the dryer it started blinking "AF" on the screen. After some research online I found out it meant "air flow". So I pulled the dryer out cleaned the wall vent. Restarted the dryer. It still showed AF. So... I researched some more online and found out there could be dust clogging up the inside of the dryer . So I decided to take apart my dryer!!! Took off the top & front. And to my surprise it was filled with dust/lint everywhere. So I swept it out. Then took the back off ( I forgot to take a pic of this), same thing dust/lint everywhere. I put everything back together and IT WORKS!!! No more error code!!!!

Top of the dryer off
front of the dryer off! 
Putting the front back on! 
All the dust that was INSIDE my dryer! 




* UPDATE- The dryer is still running great no error codes!

MOVIES- all 10 of the Ma & Pa Kettle movies! All 5 twilight movies!

MORE READING- Read some GREAT books the last 2 weeks.

The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegal-Maier This is an awesome book, I went out and BOUGHT it! Lots of homemade "recipes" for all the cleaning supplies needed to clean your home.

Soapmaking for the first time by Linda Ortin- This is a simple starter book for those looking to make your own soap. Its for "first time" soap makers and a great book! Its on my "buy list" but I can't find it anywhere.

The Complete book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood- BOUGHT THIS BOOK! This is a "natural" book of 600 + "recipes" for most health issues, common cold, upset stomach etc.

The best of Top Secrets Recipes by Todd Wilbur- Who doesn't like to make their own McDonalds Big Mac, Taco Bell Nachos, KFC Fried Chicken, at least this way you KNOW whats in your food! Love this book and BOUGHT IT!

CRAFTS- Now that I have gotten Soapmaking for the first time by Linda Ortin from the library I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few things I needed. So hopefully over the next week I will be making soap! I bought 1 soap mold and fragrance oil, goat milk soap, shea butter soap, glycerine. I would like to make Adsyon a fun soap.

GARDENING- I've been very lazy about this. I need to get myself up and going and get my plants and seeds in the ground! I have corn, beans, squash, tomato plants, green pepper plants. Oh and lettuce, spinach!

NO CHEMICALS-  This has been going great! I LOVE the make-up wipes and baby wipes I made a couple weeks ago! (Click Here for the wipes recipes) With all the family members I had "try" my homemade laundry soap it was already time to make more! If you need the recipe Click Here and read week 6. I also made what I thought was a small batch of DISH SOAP (the small 1/2 gallon) but after it sat overnight, it gelled up so I had to add some water and move it to a GALLON milk jug! So I made a gallon of dish soap for a $1.

DISH SOAP- to hand wash dishes.
 1 BAR GRATED Kirks Castile Soap
3 tbl WASHING soda (NOT baking soda)
4 cups water plus extra
3-4 drops Essential oil (for smell, this is optional)

Bring water to ALMOST boiling, add grated soap and mix until its dissolved. The smaller the soap pieces the faster it will melt/dissolve. Once the soap is melted/dissolved you can add washing soda. Stir until dissolved.
DO NOT ALLOW THIS TO BOIL. Once everything has dissolved allow to cool for about 1-2 hours. Fill your gallon jug about 1/2 full with water and add the soap mix. shake well. At this point you can add your essential oils. You can not add them in the beginning because the essential oil will evaporate in/with the steam.
I have noticed with this recipe my dishes are clean. Sometimes I do see a "cloudy" buildup on my glasses. To solve this use 1 sink for soaping up dishes, use your other sink as a rinse sink. Fill your rinse sink with water and add 1/2 cup vinegar. The vinegar acts as its own "rinse agent". Your soap still might gel up from time to time, all you have to do is shake it before you use it! Remember this is a homemade recipe, it will not bubble like the store bought stuff. It will also make your "wash" water a little cloudy, this is the soap WORKING!

Most of this week Adyson has had some coughing spells(nasal drainage due to allergies/season change), I tried the OTC crap and nothing worked. So I scoured the net. Looking for a homemade anything to help her coughing at night. I came across multiple websites that suggested putting Eucalyptus oil on your child's feet. You only use 2-3 drops per foot, massage it in. Put socks over their feet (so you don't get the oil all over the sheets) it WORKED!!!! I was so pleased that she had a peaceful night sleep! PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH ABOUT ESSENTIAL OILS, they are toxic if ingested just like the OTC stuff.

Oh did I mention that Adyson's eczema is doing wonderful! Its almost gone! The homemade stuff is working great! Click here for week 10!

I have found a replacement for my Swiffer pads for mopping the floor! I found some awesome dish clothes with a scrubber patch (for the muddy days) on them & I also bought the new Handi-Wipes (reusable/washable for the lighter days) at Walmart! Now I have the Swiffer Vacuum. So I can attach my own pad and mop and vacuum at the same time! Since mine is the vacuum my "pads" are smaller than the actual Swiffer wet jet and other similar products.So I was able to cut these in 1/2 and get 12 pads from them! I run these over my floors all the time!


Now for the solution to clean the floor. I wanted something that would CLEAN and not leave a film/sticky floor! I bought a rectangular container (cause like a dummy I threw away the Swiffer container) that fit the wipes/pads in it!
FLOOR SOLUTION

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
2-3 squirts dish soap
3-4 drops essential oil (for smell purposes)

Mix it all up and add to container, fold your pads and place in the container. Let it sit for 10 minutes, flip the container over( so the top pads get wet) and they are ready to use! If you don't use essential oils, the vinegar smell goes away once the floor are dry.

Well its off to cleaning I go! Let me know if you have any questions!  Have a great weekend!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Books I have Read in 2013- update week 45/46

These are the books I have read so far this year. As the year progresses there will be several different types of books. I will label out in categories as the list gets longer. I will update the list throughout the year!

So far I'm up to 27 books I'm a little behind but I have the confidence that I will make by goal for the year! 

You can look at my 2013 goals on my first week's Blog. 26 educational, 26 pleasure books. 

I've got 17 educational/informational book done! 

I've got 10 pleasure books done! 


In September....

27- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. This was fabulous!!! Loved the book and movie!! 

24,25,26-  I've read the Fifty Shades of Grey series- I LOVED IT! (Besides the obvious sexual content which is not a big deal to me) I loved how the story had a real purpose. 2 people who have issues and learn to work through them. I just had to see what all the hype was about. I really liked the actual story throughout the series! Which leads me to my next question of HOW are they going to turn this into a movie? Cause 75% of the first book Fifty Shades of Grey is sexual content. So it will be interesting. Oh & after reading the books I can NOT picture the cast they have hired for the roles in the movie.


23-Breakfast at Tiffany's by James Patterson.  This is not your typical James Patterson book. This is a book about an imaginary friend and how they become real. It was a slow but enjoyable book. 
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ROMANCE- 

22- "Perfect Fling" by Carly Phillips - It was funny & romantic(a few exotic parts), I loved it!!! Great plot, and characters were life like! Ups and downs great book & would read it again!



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MURDER/MYSTERY-


21- Malice by Lisa Jackson, AWESOME

20-Suspicions by Christine Kersey- this was OK, written for ALL reading levels (in my opinion) little too simple for me.

19-Swim by Jennifer Weiner VERY SHORT e-book, not worth the time, only 40 pages
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SOAPMAKING-


18-Soapmaking for the first time by Linda Ortin- This is a simple starter book for those looking to make your own soap. Its for "first time" soap makers and a great book! Its on my "buy list" but I can't find it anywhere.


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FOOD-

17-The best of Top Secrets Recipes by Todd Wilbur- Who doesn't like to make their own McDonalds Big Mac, Taco Bell Nachos, KFC Fried Chicken, at least this way you KNOW whats in your food! Love this book and BOUGHT IT!





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OILS-


16-Aromatherapy Massage by Clare Maxwell Hudson- This is a wonderful book for your basic oils and massage techniques. 

15-Aromatherapy Handbook by Erich Keller -This book is a little older (1990's) gave some great  recipes for homemade beauty products. 

14-The Complete book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood- BOUGHT THIS BOOK! This is a "natural" book of 600 + "recipes" for most health issues, common cold, upset stomach etc.
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MISC-

13-Best of Instructables vol 1



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GARDENING-

12-Tips for Container Gardening from Fine Gardening- This was great for flowers, not too much info about vegetables

11-The New Self Sufficient Gardener by John Seymore- This book was GREAT! Great tips!

10-The Weekend Homesteader by Anna Hess- This gives you  month by month steps on how to prep everything. It was OK. A few tips and some good kid activities.

9-The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible by Edward C Smith- AWESOME book, I bought it! Explains in detail the soil types for your veggies, depth of pots, what plants you can grow together  and the plants you should keep separate!



8-Container Gardening by P. Allen Smith 

7-Gardening with out a Garden by Gay Search

6-Container Gardener Rupert Golby

5-Homemade by Ken Braren

4-The No Garden Gardener Jane courtier

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLEANING-


3-Cleaning by Real Simple & Kathleen Squires - this didn't give me the information I was looking for. I thought this book would give me homemade cleaning solutions to the commercial brands. All this book gave me was a "schedule" (daily, weekly, monthly, annually) of what to clean in my house. 

2-Homemade by Readers Digest- GREAT & BOUGHT IT- lots of "homemade solutions" for your everyday life. 


1-The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegal-Maier This is an awesome book, I went out and BOUGHT it! Lots of homemade "recipes" for all the cleaning supplies needed to clean your home.