The Art of slowing down

So yes my life has began to slow down. I am a single woman on her own, without children living in her home. Her free time is her time.. well most of the time... LOL. I found a little site that appealed to me back in the day of craziness of too many people living here, together, getting on each other nerves. Zenhabits.
A Minimalist blog that has no bells and whistles just the straight logic wrings of a minimalist. I have been reading and rereading the free book Focus which if you click on the link is a free download and a copyright free publication that can be shared on blogs, with friends or whatever.  A great read I suggest you check it out.

Trying to remember the four agreements.... A friend sent it to me and I thought gee I sent that to you in 2008... but then maybe I need to reread it... (PS I have reworded to simplify the meanings. because I find  that much of the meaning  be lost if I kept the whole thing in tact..... but that my attitude)

Be Impeccable with your Word
Say only what you mean. Mean what you say. Speak with integrity. Avoid using words that speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.


Don't Take Anything Personally  
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.


Always Do  Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Based on the " The Four Agreements"
By don Miguel Ruiz
Well I always have had number 2 down, I mean I always know that sometimes people's mood are what going on not always your fault type of thinking.... but to remember that when I am having a everyone getting on my nerves day that sometimes I should remember number 3........... or the fact that my thinking is the problem...

Or trying to live by the Simple Truths from the Cherokee:

We are our own best experts.

We are our own worst enemies.

The worst thing about having so many choices is having to choose.

Imagination is the one true measure of freedom.

Wisdom is having more questions than answers.

Search long and hard enough for something and you’ll surely find it.

Sometimes we try so hard to be what we’re not that we may forget who we are.

Very cool idea.

Renest is a site that has some good ideas for going green and decorating your home.
  I saw a vintage car mirror as a table top mirror.  Now all I have to do is find a vintage car mirror laying around.... LOL

Wrapping gifts...

Furoshiki
 is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. It is used for light travel, shopping and gift giving. When you click on the link it will take you to the part of the site that shows you what type of wraps you can use for different items. Scroll down and see some wrap for your body of course that would work better for a sarong then a tea towel...

I have been looking for some holiday towels to wrap gifts in but I can't find some nice ones. They are stiff
or have some very childish looking design.  And it is one of those things that having moved out I don't want to get a gift that makes her think I think of her as a child you know.  Guess I think to much.

Yea I have made a few gift bags this year. Some are smaller for smaller gifts.  Some of them are the gift to the people at Church....


Some I made tote bags for.  Or got a shopping tote at one of their favorite store!

My fudge is going into re-useable containers that can be used over and over.

what type of eco-friendly wrapping are you using?

Green Tuesdays

Green America is starting a grass roots campaign that is asking after the Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday madness to shop for the environment and local business.  Calling All Tuesdays in December Green Tuesday.

 It's been said that the trend  for this years shopping is the local business shopping.  Etsy  is blogging that Cyber Monday was the biggest selling day they have had!  My local news is reporting that the area "craft shows" and pop up local artist shops are having great sales increases this year.  The local shops are doing great!

My co-worker and friend has sold out many of her shows that even surprised her.   As it is needed.  She depends on the money she makes at the shows for her holiday shopping.  But she teased me that it is more work, she has one big mess in her living room cause she had to make more stuff for the next day...

It's great to hear how people are getting it and buying from their local stores and small business or artist.  It's also kinda heart warming to hear the sales of t-shirts with our city are up too. Could it be the money is tight could it be that  they rather buy something from someone close to them.  OWS? That people are sick and tired of sending their money in a big box store that CEO make so much more that the average person?

Whatever the reason it is good to see that local businesses getting what they deserve!

Doggie Bark

Gift for the canines

4 cups carob chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts or chopped walnuts


Instructions
1. In a bowl, melt the carob chips in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir them with a wooden spoon, then microwave for 30 seconds more.
2. Stir in the peanut butter and microwave for another 15 seconds. Stir the ingredients again to combine.
3. Add the nuts and the cinnamon, then stir the mixture to coat the nuts.
4. Line an edged cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Pour the mixture onto the foil and chill it for 15 minutes in the freezer or 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
5. Remove the bark and break it into roughly 1- by 2-inch pieces. Store it in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 70 pieces.

Ornament dough

Salt dough

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 cups water

Mix the flour, salt and water together until well combined.

Shape or roll out dough and use cookie cutters for the ornament.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1/2 hour.

Let cool before painting. Can use nail polish also.


Applesauce dough

1 cup Applesauce
1 1/2 cups ground ginger, allspice, cinnamon and clove (mixed as desired)
1 squirt of school glue

Mix your ingredients together. If your dough seems crumbly you can add more applesauce or even just plain water.

As with the Salt dough, you can use this to make 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional ornaments.

Once shaped the dough needs to cook for an hour at 200 degrees F., then cool completely before decorating. You can also leave the ornaments to air dry for several days if you have the time.

Decorate! Decorate as desired with glitter, paint, googly eyes, cotton pom-poms. Whatever you want. You can seal with a few clear final coats of paint (decoupage style).

Cupcakes for co-workers

I am going to make some cupcake ornaments for some of my co-workers. See how we work in the bakery area... but I have seen directions for them basically just gluing the ornament to a cup cake liner and sprinkling some glitter on top.

But I think I am going to make some puffy paint to squeeze on top like we do when we ice the cupcakes....
Puffy paint:
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of salt
1/4 cup water
paint or food coloring

Mix flour, salt and water together then add any colored paint or food coloring.


Use a thick paint brush to paint with it.


You can also pour your mixture into squeeze bottles or re-use old squeeze sauce bottles.


Use the paint as normal, but when it dries it will harden to a puffed up dimensional paint.

will this stay on a ornament? Guess I will find out.. depends on the type I guess...

Hummm also could use the sprinkles and then use my clear sealant. Will post pictures I promise!

           

Time for Cards

Oh this holiday season you can remember our soldiers. There is a outdated message circling the net that says When filling out your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address: A Recovering American Soldier c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20307-5001. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful, special people, who have sacrificed so much would get.

But the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has closed! So this would just end up in the dead letter office at the post office in Washington DC. If they are still open.  With our  local distribution  center closing it's postal operations here... you never know.  My daughter's father and his wife work there and may loose their jobs.  With worries my daughter.  Her father is talking of moving to West Virginia and that means to see her dad she have to make a 6 1/2 hour drive to see him.

So if you would like to send a card to a soilder you can go to the Red Cross site and found this address:

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Just add one more card to your list!

Gift Jars

I have started my gift making for my hours have been cut again (not sure if I can have a holiday at this rate) but I will try to find a way to come in early or pick up hours somewhere! So this means I have limited amount I can spend on the holidays. Yuck....

So I am going to make gift jars for some of the people on my list.

I have made some spice blends as the picture to the right shows.  That is Chili Seasoning.  I have a co-worker that keep saying "you have teach me to cook."  I teased her I was going to make her some Fajita Seasoning and she is excited to try it.  I guess I might have to make more! But I think it looks so cool when it is layered like that.  So sad you need to mix it together to use...

 I have in the past made drink mixes like Spiced Chai Mix, Friendship Tea Mix and some coffee mixes as gifts.  I have a friend that loves the  Spiced Chai Mix! When I came over and saw I had a friend that well didn't show up and it stayed with her... LOL... and her boyfriend got one too and he doesn't like tea!!!  So I have to make sure she gets the biggest jar of it this year.  She is the biggest fan of Chai.  I need to find different favors chai for her... any one got any good recipes for favored chai?

Not sure how I feel about the cookies in a jar gift but I keep seeing them at the stores.  I think that maybe home made is better for less chemicals in them.   But it doesn't last on the shelf as long as the store brought ones would.  That's ok as long  they know the gift is not going to last a year in their cupboard.. or will it? Shrugs I am not sure I guess the flour and sugar mix will last as long as they do un-mixed.

What home made gifts are you planing on making this year?

Look what I won!

     

        I joined a  green group that meets in a  local church.    With the crazy way at work I need to ask for a day off around 3 weeks early it took me over a month and a half to get to the first meeting.  We had a visitor from the areas recycling plant that offered some thought that made me go hummm  maybe I need to rethink this.  But I won this cause I knew that each week the average person produces 5 pounds of trash.   Cool huh? My first meeting and I go home with a recycle bin....... plus there was someone there I knew so it wasn't too weird.

Rainbow Hair Halloween

  Wow totally forgot that way back when we used to dye our hair with unsweetened kool-aide.....

What a great way to not use the toxic stuff they sell at the store.  Safer for younger kids and even should I dare say.... animals.....

But what I remember doing is adding enough conditioner to make a paste.  This paste is the hair dye, you add it the part you want to color.  We used to dye strands different colors.... You might want to wear gloves but it will wash out if you have to wash dishes afterwards... LOL.

I have heard of other people just using water. Or using water and a little conditioner.

But the longer you keep it on the better the color takes.  So many times you would wrap plastic wrap or use a shower cap and sleep with it on.  It does look brighter on lighter colored hair but many times I have seen brown hair girls do it and it comes out lighter or not as colorful but still fun!

Halloween Recycled Crafts part 2

SO one night while bored I was lost on the web found myself looking at craft ideas for Halloween. Some how don't remember how I landed on The Swell Life. Where I saw some cool Candy corn bottles.  She used spray paint for the yellow and orange part but I used regular craft paint.  I couldn't find cheap spray paint, I mean I was dropping $6 a can for large colored spray paint. I went to the craft store and spent a dollar for each color....
I spray painted them white and let dry.  Then I painted the colored part.   I did have paint a couple coats to the colored part.  I let dry between coats.  I also sprayed the finished bottles with a clear glaze to help keep the paint from being washed or chipped off......

So even more bored I went and googled poison labels.  I found a few and got them from all different places.... a couple of bottles I spray painted black to look more spooky.  While others I keep clear to add crazy stuff to the bottle to match the label.  Like fairy clippings I have glitter and feathers in the jar.  A couple didn't make it to the picture, like swamp fog with used drier sheets; oh the girls never can hit the trash can for some reason!!! Plus a bottle with the label can of worms... I am going to cut up pieces of black and brown yarn for that... you know I looked for small rubber snakes and can't find them... but I have a bottle of juice that will be emptied soon and will have red liquid replacing it.  I have the label vampire blood  to add to it...


 Oh yea I go a little crazy on Halloween 

There are ghost on my porch!

Recycled halloween crafts !

I remember seeing a craft from the magazine Family Fun. The thing is I didn't remember it fully. I didn't remember the lights inside... Some how I thought it was electric tape for the eyes and mouth... oh well they turned out great! I used empty oxygen boost bottle and a empty green cleaner bottle.  I even used empty milk bottles and cider jugs works well , even with the semi-clear bottles they look fine from a distance. I did add some off my rocks I used for drainage in my container garden to keep them on the porch and not to fly away to the neighbors yards...

I did lose a grave marker earlier this week due to the rain and wind.... I pulled in to the drive way noticed it in the neighbors yard.  By the time I got my cold stuff in the refrigerator.  It was gone.... Bummer....

I do want to make some jar cute-ies.  I don't remember where I saw them but jars being painted and decorated like pumpkins.  I thought I make some ghost too.  Plus the mummies like on  Family Fun  but with jars not toilet paper tubes.... but hey I have selective memory... but it still works out.

Chocolate and Peanut butter!

OH NO! They are saying now with the climate change we have had that there will be a shortage of cocoa... meaning chocolate.... between the spread of cocoa tree specific diseases and a drought.  Plus the fact that the demand for dark chocolate is up.  More cocoa is used when making the dark chocolate... With all the news of it's heath benefits. Come on Doc Oz sings it's praise! Less but not least, the fact that many trees are being planted in the full sun instead of the shade where they grow longer. So many trees are dying. They only grow 30 years or less in the full sun. They can grow for all most 100 years longer in shady understory. The mass production is catching up with the dangers. Many of the farmers are leaving their plantains due to low wages, not getting money they need to keep them going.

Earlier we heard reports of the peanut farms being in trouble due to the floods, droughts and hurricanes.   Many farmers are having less of a crop then they did last year.  And to add to the mess, last year they had a fungus attacking their crops.  After this news hit the airwaves we had someone at work;  a business owner, came in and  bought  up all the peanut butter off our shelfs. Stating that they had to raise prices already  and don't want to have to again fearing loss of business..... can't blame them.  I would do the same.  I mean we heard 300% increase... that's a huge jump in price.  Or worst then that running out of peanut butter.  Oh no not a good thing at my house.

I already have extra coffee in my freezer, after hearing that there maybe a coffee shortage.  I guess now they said that was wrong, but hey everything is going up.  So when the was on coffee sale I got a extra bag is something I can live with.   I also have a extra peanut  butter in the panty..... but I haven't got my chocolate for the holiday baking yet.... hopefully I can get some chocolate chips before the effect of the Ivory Coast hits the states.

PS the picture is fudge.  Hummm I make fudge for holiday presents.  Think people will mind if they don't a get a full pound or more this year??

But bigger picture then that: what's next? What is the next product we will hear is going to be the shortage? With prices going up and shortages.. kinda think we all are in for a ride with this economy.... Hold on, buckle your safety belt: keep your hands and feet in at all times......

Eat well

I swear you can find anything on the web.... I am not sure how I got here but I found a site called Eat Well. From there site they describe their site: Eat Well Guide® is a free online directory for anyone in search of fresh, locally grown and sustainably produced food in the United States and Canada.

The stores that are in my area that are certified organic... Stores you know that they are labeled "health food stores". They didn't have the newest in the area Earth Fare. which if you have a local Earth Fare you have to sign up for the site and emails and you will get some great coupons. I have gotten free apples, tomatoes, ground beef and bacon. And chicken for a dollar a pound!! Love that store...

Of course there was the local Chipole Mexican Grill  that we have learned uses meat and products that has no antibiotics or added hormones. Using organic and local produce when they can...


BUT I was shocked to see Eat and Park! Yep Eat and Park! They won the Glynwood Harvest Award for Connecting Communities, Farmers and Food. They also use sustainable seafood. Hormone free dairy products and 20 percent is local produce and meat when they can. I live in the frozen northeast so I understand that statement. You can't grow anything in the icy winter.

Making it healthier.

http://minovaarts.deviantart.com/art/Frankenstein-Apple-118517539

Things that are enriched can have added items you would never eat on your own. Iron fortified cereals can contain iron filings. Fiber rich foods can contain wood pulp. Rodent hairs, mites, bugs, flies or their eggs or body part are also allowed by FDA.

Carmine also called Cochineal, Cochineal Extract, Crimson Lake, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470, E120, and Carminic Acid is the powdered bodies of dried cochineal beetles. The small item that the British used to make there red coats.....  is found in many red colored food products!  Real labels and check that healthy little carton of yogurt.... anything that is "red berry flavored"...

Shellac is made from the Kerria lacca insect's sticky excretions that is commonly found in the forests of Thailand. The insect secretes this sticky liquid to help it stay on the plant that is home.  Now when the substance is being harvested sometimes the the little bug gets in the mix.  Ok many of times it is added to make the shellac that make our candy so shinny.....  Oh and of course our fruits that are so shinny on the shelves...

Bone char is made from the bones of cows from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan that have died from "natural causes."  First the bones are used my the gelatin industry for the inner part of the bone to make gelatin. Then it is sold to the sugar company. Bone char is used to bleach our sugar to help it  look that beautiful white color. Sugar starts out as a brown color and companies use bone char to help make it look bright and white.

Now there are reports I have seen online and on the news.  That the "blueberries" in many of the foods we buy thinking that we are getting the antitoxin effect of these wonderful berries are really just a corn syrup sugar chemical chip..... AND I found out by researching this (there is a ton of sites that are reporting on this) that strawberries and raspberries are the same way.  Just chemical chips not the real berries dried for future use...

Speaking of future use... if you remove the oxygen from a items such as juice you can keep for  almost a year.  but this also get rid of the flavor and the companies need to add a artificial flavoring... Funny thing is the USDA will test it but not do anything to fix it....

Oh yea that why I make many things from scratch... plus I read many blogs of mom with the same ideals as me... you would be surprised at the recipe that you can find on line from moms that want to give there kids whole foods.  Recipes for pop tarts, and other junk food....

Proof that I was on the right track!

Shine on Yahoo has a slide show that debunks the Healthy Drinks claims! The blog post I entitled Local heros was right in the money! Don't you love it when you use your common sense and  the you see what you said (thought was right all along!! LOL
Yea I am purring out my chest braggin about myself.....
There are a couple things that are not local that are proven good for you but so is many of the local fruits we have!

Oh Poop!

So there is a motorcycle in Japan that runs on poop.. Ok I not sure about this? I mean when would you use this? I mean where can you pull over to fuel up? Or are you going to just drive along and fuel the bike? Oh I am cringing as I type this... I could hear the middle school student (or younger) screaming out the window at a red light to the motorcycle rider "hey are you pooping??" And the mother turning red..

 General Electric is using cow manure for combined heat and power (CHP) plant. It can produces 625 kW of electricity and 686 kW of thermal output.  And then what is left over from the  manure process is used as fertilizer.

Pacific Gas and Electric and BioEnergy Solutions has biogas-to-pipeline injection project in Fresno County that uses animal poop! It basically uses the the methane gas produced as the manure decomposes.


 So there even is a plant that is producing a coal like substance that is used as coal would... and it is made from poop. It equals taking a million cars off the road..

This was a very interesting morning as I kept running into poop stories....

Pizza Pizza!

Wouldn't this be great? I can see places giving a discount if you return the Pi Pan!!

Cutting the waste and cutting the carbon that is put into the environment.

I do love pizza and would pay a deposit for my first pizza to get a discount if I return it on the next pizza... hey maybe that can be a incentive for places.............

Gluten Free?

I understand those who have Celiac Disease But it seems there is reports and sites that are telling us that the wheat is causing things like depression, diabetes, ADD/ADHD, and more. But it seems like the condition of the year .I am not saying if you have been diagnose with it; your condition is not real.  I am saying that it seems that it is been said that most of us have it and don't know we do type of warnings..Like good god this stuff is dangerous.  So I have been asked so many times at work if we have gluten free cake.....

 It make me wonder if people keep looking for the easy fix on weight loss.. Ok yea they do.  But moderation is the better choice... you know cake once in a while is ok.  I mean if you tell a child that they can't have something (or do something) they will be draw to it.  I was the type that didn't remove the "bad foods" I just said it was a treat.  My famous saying was "you have to eat the good food to get the treat"....

 Then I think of the real diet... that how and where did we decide that wheat flour is a basic? Let alone yeast? That most of our meal needs to be bread products.. That our bodies need this powder...Oh yea I think way to much... So  I decided to see if that maybe there could be a difference if I cut down on my wheat products.  Yea that isn't as easy as it sounds.  My inner child wants peanut butter and jelly sandwich.. every morning....

Local Heroes.

I find it very interesting that the "super foods" are foods that are usually shipped from foreign lands and cost more than the local stuff.  This is not helping the green energy movement for the energy that is used in shipping and flying the fruits and vegetables to different countries.  I mean have the time I forget what they are called let alone how to pronounce it... plus many of the items looked to much like the things I know and love.... that berry does look like a blueberry to me...

Having started to eat local produce and from farmers markets I wonder am I getting all that I can from my foods? We need that super fruit from a long distance island?  You know I am all for trying new foods but sometimes it seems like everything has to be the foreign not the homegrown!  What is wrong with the homegrown??  I started to research many of my favorite foods.  I found that indeed they are healthy and also help build healthy cells...   I thought gee my grandparents eat all these and why all of a sudden is our diet wrong?

The average  American diet is way off.  American eat (on a whole) too much sugar, fat and over processed foods.  I saw a site that had a piece on the Standard American Diet, and abbreviated the name to SAD.  Made me laugh, for a minute, but it is kinda true.  But if we do go back to the way (my) grandparents or even great grandparents ate we could live healthier.  I understand that many families are over worked and the drive threw makes things easier...  but at the cost of our families health we should try for a healthier way.  And I am not saying to give up the drive threw or the play ground lunch fun just not all the time.  I know too many parents rely on the happy kid  meals for more than once a day....

So yea the fruits that I love, raspberries,  blueberries and strawberries are antioxidants and healthy.  Any fruit that is bright in color is helpful.  Sugar but natural sugars. High in vitamins.  And so good!! 

That most vegetables are also helpful in aiding the body to fight disease.  The bright colored vegetables are full of powerful antioxidants that help the body fight free radicals. Not forgetting things like onions and garlic that are strong fighters for the diseases that attack our bodies.  Carrots are being praised for helping make good cholesterol and fighting bad cholesterol! Tomatoes also are our backyard champs... So salsa is something that can help fight the good fight... yummm 

So just Like Dr. Oz saying the bright colored fruits help fight cancers and are full of antioxidants. Basic foods like beans and grains are also helpful.  Full of fiber, minerals and vitamins.

You don't have to eat that food that you may never pronounce right or drink that drink you really don't like the bitter taste of.... You can just eat the stuff you know and are used to.  They are healthy for you too.  That way you can save your money for things you like or spurge on that one item you really like.  Eating real food that isn't prebaked,  frozen chemical laden over processed  open the box and pour meals.

I have fallen in love with my crock pot again!  ... I throw a ton of veggies and a piece of chicken. Turn on to low and go to work.  I come home to a wonderful smell and dinner is done.   Left over can be reheated quickly and frozen for work lunches....

Oh Frack!!

Great! My dad has heard that some of the people around the area he lives has been paid off for use of their land. Seems that they are going to be fracking in the suburbs around here. I also heard that they plan on fracking in another suburb in the same county.....

 So if you never heard of fracking Treehugger has a Infographic with a little bit of what is good about it and want isn't... Basically they drill down pass the water table and pump water into the shale. This water cause the shale to crack.... and when it cracks the natural gas will be set free... sound like a nature show... doesn't it?

Oh yea the movie 'Erin Brockovich,' the one with Julia Roberts as a lawyer aide that uncovers the water in a community was making people sick. well fracking was behind that too....

 We are getting commercials from Chesapeake Energy right and left... so really makes my skin crawl... if they are wanting to help us transition to clean-burning natural gas to help lesson our dependence on foreign oil..... they also claim that this is affordable;  to drill or frack.

 But at what price? OUR drinking water like the movie Gasland. True that in Dimock, Pa where they "lit the water on fire" was proven wrong and that it wasn't the fault of the natural gas company. Gas seeping from land owned by Lisa Bracken in Garfield County, Colorado however did result where EnCana Oil & Gas was fined $371,200. It also was because of a fault line. A few people did get settlements after learning that the fracking indeed was the reason why they had thermogenic methane in their water well. Where it was proven that drilling and hydraulic fracturing can liberate biogenic natural gas into a fresh water. So I am kinda worried that the fact they don't have to tell us what is in the fracking water and don't have to be held accountable for the items either. With the EPA having no power over them if they do use things that are harmfull. Thank you to the Safe Drinking Water Act in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Of course my dad is worry about the info one of the neighbors college son told them.  That there will be semi trucks driving straight for 3 months back and forth to the drill sight,  that then they also will be building for the same amount of time.  When they get it up and running they will be driving semi trucks in and out all day to bring and get rid of the fracking water.  He was like they said it was like a million gallons of water and they don't get all the water out??   I said that what I heard too... gessh my dad was shocked...  That and the fact if might be held in a pond right next to the drill site where pets and other animals can drink.  PLUS in this quiet suburb they will have 20 stories tall lit up pumping stations that will light up the country mile of land.... so it will be like daylight in the middle of the night in the only place I can go see the stats at night without the city lights blocking our view...

The  truth is my dad is worried about his quiet suburb that will never be the same because of the driving of trucks day and night.  The wear and tear on the roads... his water... the safety of  chemicals and the fact the government didn't even ask the community for feedback.... 

True  Chesapeake Energy site does say the chemical they use are a safe. They are the same chemicals that are found in everyday cleaning household products. Plus they use chlorine-based sanitization aides like the chemicals you use in your pool. I don't have a pool so maybe their pool.... But all we are asking is too make sure this is safe ingredients and have  the EPA be able to say yes this is all safe...

Then again they do have the say on many of those household cleaners and they are questionable on safety. Seeing how many ingredients are not for sale in Europe, because they ban things until they are proven save and here we ban things when they are proven  harmful.......


Messed up isn't it............ and very scary........
What ever happened to reusable energy, like solar and wind???

Has Cheezburger and hotdog

So today is my day off this week-end and I am planing a cook-out with the weather report of thunderstorms all day..... Guess we might have a cook-in... So enjoy your week-end and Labor Day!

Wouldn't you know it!!

I just got back from my staycation, where I didn't do much but hang out with family... I cleaned my house and of course got the bug to go to the second hand stores cause I found problem areas... LOL like this room would look so much better if I had a lamp on the other side of the room, yea that is what it needs.... But I ended up moving stuff around cause I couldn't find anything I liked... being very picky I guess... but it cured my need a fresher look to my house feeling....

I got to see my nephew who just earned a new nickname... Fuji Brother. Yep he was accepted in the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity! Oh no don't call him a frat boy he gets mad... But I guess they use the Fuji nickname because of the pig roast they put on every year that welcome graduate brothers back.  As to keep the spirit of brotherhood alive.  I teased him oh yea drinking and frats, but this fraternity is dry and There is no hazing allowed. So I and his momma can stop worrying... But I also got rid of the futon in the basement.  It will now serve as a place for a Fuji brothers friend to sleep when visiting or studying to late.... Yea I know what it really will become, a place to throw a Fuji brothers clothes.... LOL

But many people have invited me for things on the following week-end.... I thought I should have taken my vacation the next week-end!!  But so sorry I will probably have to work.  But then the schedule came out and I have Saturday off!! YEA....

BUT Wouldn't you know it!!  I come home Friday night and I feel alittle off with a stomach ache that kinda brothersome but not really bad... Till Saturday morning.... Oh yea no going camping, no going to Cleveland sorry, nothing.... I am running back and forth to the bathroom.  I feel like some punched me in the stomach.

I am drinking weak tea most of the day, eating toast... good thing I made some bread on vacation... watching reruns on line or TV..... oh well, I do have to work today..... feeling a little queasy.....

GRR wish people would remember I need 3 1/2 week notice for stuff , but most this time I wish my body would have given me a break..........

                  

Thoughts to the East Coast

Hurricane Irene is heading to the east coast.  It is a powerful Category 3 storm .. as I write this.....  my thought are with those who live in the intended area...

I found on FEMA site they have a section for the Kids! Fema Ready Kids. It helps kids help plan for emergencies! Helps calm the fear... plus helps them feel empowered....

New York is being advised to evacuate the low coast line..You know that last time they had that was 1948.   FEMA standing by to help where needed.

So most people in this area seem they don't fear the storm... not remembering Katrina; we had the storm that knocked out power and cause flooding yes in the northeastern Ohio area.  Weather patterns are affected within the other areas

Scratch scratch

ARGGGGG

Third year in a row! After working on my flower garden in front of my house I get this rash that is painful. It feels like a tiny little prickers in my bumps.. Then it burns when I inch it.... Last year I got it so bad I went to the doctor got some stuff that kicked my butt, so bad he wrote me off for 2 days.... Well it doesn't help I am allergic to everything also. He was a afraid of a strong reaction to the prescription so he gave me a couple days off to get use to the drowsy affects. I had a rash on both arms and legs.  So much for weeding the flower bed in shorts and a tank top......

This year I wore a long sleeve shirt when I worked on the flower garden.  I was out in the earlier morning..... it was a cool day that the wind was blowing so I could work on the weeds........

The weird thing is this rash doesn't show up until a couple days later.  So I freaked when I saw this rash on MY FACE!  Yes right where one would wipe their brow.... so to speak, is a small line cut looking rash bump... my yearly rash..... and a couple little bumps down the side of my face.......... I would find myself inching these bumps at work... great I am going to explode in a huge rash on my face.... but nope I got it on my arms again.  Third year in a row.....

So searching what to do for a rash: oh remember I am allergic to everything, well I will bleed if I use hydrocortisone cream, it dries my skin out too much and yea it is very painful.... looks like road rash!!!  I find out that yes it is something in my flower garden that is causing this, concerning I have allergies that are like hay-fever, I can't use anything with chamomile cause my eyes will puff up like I cried all night, and hurt more than if I did..... It may have been ragweed! That people who have allergies to the pollen can have allergies to the oils from the leaves.  Me I have extra sensitive skin so why not have extra sensitive skin to an allergen.

Sign....

So some cures are a oatmeal bath.  Yea that ok but then I don't have the time for the bath water... that and my water bill would go up more than it should.... but I do use oatmeal soap to wash with....  Some people swear by half a cup of baking soda and cornstarch also but I do the oatmeal bath.  Baking soda can be rough on sensitive skin.  Oatmeal is the bath recommended for the chicken pox for kids.

Honey. Yea putting honey on the area helps it heal.   Ok so it very sticky. VERY sticky.... for both arms.  I have used it on my face many times, it makes your face so soft.... But you leave it on for 15-30 minute then wash off. I put some on right before I got in the shower.  But I did go to bed after....

Aloe vera, is another cooling treatment.  I have a bottle of after sun 100% aloe vera product that feels nice when I use it, it also has some benzocaine to cool the burning (pun intended, rashes can burn too!! LOL)

So next thing to try was milk. Yep milk on the rash reduces the redness and swelling.  Plus it is suppose to heal faster. 

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It's back!!

The nasty stuff that made me rash out to the max a while ago...

It came back... The rest of the area is still bare..

That stuff will not die.....

Tomatoes

My cherry tomatoes that I have had a couple salads that I could add a few rip to is turning very red lately.   

And my bargain plant that has bloomed to a huge plant....  

Something to think about during the heat wave...

You can save money by buying CFL bulbs....





Check out more money saving ideas at energysavers.gov

Yummy...

I just got a ice cream maker at my local Target for a song! So I made some Strawberry sorbet.

The recipe as in the ice cream maker booklet (hey I googled ice cream machine recipes and found this same recipe over and over!!)



Strawberry Sorbet

2 2/3 cups  strawberries, pureed
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and
simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool completely (1– 2 hours).
Combine with pureed strawberries and lemon juice.
Pour into canister and freeze .

I thought I might make some and freeze it in the popsicle mold.  But when it came out if the machine it wasn't very solid, kinda soft.  Very yummy but soft.... next day after I put the left overs in the freezer it was solid.  Guess I did find a homemade frozen fruit bar!! LOL! Mine will not have all those preservatives and artificial coloring.  Just fruit and  water.  You can also use juice for the sugar water. Add more or less to the taste of the fruit.  The sweeter the fruit the less the sugar!

Plus I have been making more and more smoothies.  Sometimes make too much.  I got the idea to freeze them in the popsicle mold.... That has become my "dessert" after work... Yea one got a little too stubborn and stayed in the mold.... that's ok it will be the last one eaten!! Rawww!   I also have frozen my left over milk shakes.... very yummy!!

Next is gelato!!