Turning Shades of Green

Removing the clutter

2012-02-12T12:44:00.001-05:00

They remind you that New Year's Ee was the time to donate things so you can get a tax write off. But I think it is the snow we are getting right now I am in a clear the clutter out of the house. You know those things that are on the top shelf of your cupboard. First of course I asked the girls if they want anything. As you can see that one bag that was Miss Animal Rights is filled with clothes. She loved her present of luggage; leaving her old bag that I don't need as the perfect "box" to fill with my unwanted clothes.

My kitchen seems to look bigger for many things have been removed from the counters. Only it didn't help I got rid of the toaster oven because someone melted plastic on the top of it and now it smells of burning plastic when it is in use. I don't think that is a healthy thing so it in the trash can.

My junk door is also a target. I reorganized the drawer with some of the little basket type things I found. I thought they are so small wonder if they will fit in the junk drawer! So now my little things like little do-dads that I not sure if they are important are together. Tools that are everyday use are close to the opening. Tape and scissors are in another little container. Oh and the 15 cell phones are in a bag for the recycle box for whatever store I get to first...

Grease is the word!!

2012-02-12T12:44:00.000-05:00

So many time the green dish soaps are no the greatest at removing that greasy mess on my pans. My dressing bottle is the worst! So I went to the internet to research. The ideas I found:

Sprinkle salt on dish and use as a scrub
Add 1/2 cup of Vinegar to dish water
for glass soak with soap and microwaving for a minute or so

Wait if the vinegar was the answer won't my dressing bottle be easier to clean? It oil and vinegar... I have been having fun using different vinegar favors so maybe only the white? Well it really didn't work....

Microwaving with the soapy water or without??? Didn't work for either...

The salt helped remove some of the grease. The pans were the one where this worked the best. I sprinkle the salt and let sit until I am ready to wash the dishes. Maybe it help to put it in when the pan is still a little hot..

So the best method is all of them together!! While it is warm from cooking (no need for the microwave!!!) sprinkle with salt. Then before washing remove the salt with the dishcloth. I don't wet down the towel. I add warm water with vinegar to soak it till I reach the pans....

That worked! So I found out that lemon also works well. I like to clean with lemons cause they smell so good!!

Wabi Sabi

2012-01-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

What is Wabi Sabi?

Google the term and you will find many different ideals to the meaning. Basically it is a Japanese way of life. It is not easy to translate. Finding so many different thoughts to the term! I love the quote from Wikipedia:

"[Wabi-sabi] nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."

Lately I have been seeing Wabi Sabi in the finding love context. But I have looking for info that states the meaning is to find beauty in imperfection. A few sites are the monks tea party type, that are teaching the simple way of life. Slow down and enjoy: ″wisdom in natural simplicity". Or for art the idea of beauty in natural flaws. To the idea of living a simple zen life.

A zen life? Isn't that a song? Sounds like it doesn't it? But I hear that and thing yea that would be nice in this day and age living a zen life would be a welcome change... Not having deadlines, snow storms, or fanatic calls from family and friends dealing with crisis. maybe I am zen, talking to the person to help them find the answer, or just to have a ear to say OMG that sucks... and having someone say I am sorry to hear you are having a crappy week...

Wabi Sabi Love... I have told the girls to not try to find Mr. Perfect or Mr. Right, find Mr. I can live with the flaws..... You can't change him just as he can't change you. Find We are ourselves together and we work.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be,” Lao-Tzu.

But I find the art to find beauty in imperfection. Cracked vases are as beautiful as new. That broken candle holder that I got from the Salvation Army store is beautiful even without the chain that the previous owner might have hung it. Even keeping the two links add more interest to the piece that sits on the end table I have been looking for something interesting to place there for months....

My favorite incense burner is a old sugar dish that I love the shape of but has a crack. Even after the creamer broke I couldn't throw it away. I turned the crack to the wall. I took a picture of it and the crack wasn't even noticeable on the picture! So it took a picture of my wizard. Poor man was knocked over lost his point of his cap and got a couple chips of his base but I love this piece too much to throw away.

Or finding beauty in nature like the zen gardens. I love drift wood. Don't know why. Just do. It's beauty and the way the water made the marks maybe. I think there is power in the beauty of driftwood and have a few pieces in my house as decoration. Plus of course plants are natural beauty to bring in the home, right now in the middle of winter my plants have died. I not sure that buying more would be a good idea. The shock of taking them into 20 degree weather would kill them anyway, so I will wait til spring........

Guess I am (was) wabi sabi before it was cool...

SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-18T12:48:00.005-05:00

Two bills before Congress, Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. Blacked out words??? Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA. Blacked out words??? Many believe that these acts will cause even more loss of business and make it even harder to do business online. Plus might not even shut down the piracy sites anyway.... ~~You see this would be blacked out for a reason. If they didn't like it..~~.

Many sites where blacked out today. Sending people to sigh the petition to tell congress and the senate to vote no on PIPA and SOPA... ~~You see this would be blacked out for a reason. If they didn't like it..~~.

This is Blacked out words???
OMG
OMg I just read that SOPA has crashed the senate site!

Found on Facebook:
█████████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███ ████████. ███████████ ████ ████ . █████████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██. ███████████ ██████ everything ███ █████ is ██ ████ fine ████ ███ █ ██████ trust █████ ███████ ███ your █████ ████ government. *This post has been found in violation of H.R. 3261, S.O.P.A and has been removed.

The tale of Two Yards

2012-01-13T15:00:00.002-05:00

We got some snow last night and this morning. It's suppose to stop before tonight. That's fine I work tonight and just hate driving in the white stuff at night. When I went to get my mail this morning I saw this wonderful picture to the right. Ok the road doesn't look great but it doesn't look to bad for a snowy day. I have heard the trucks all night and day...... The front yard like very little dusting, maybe a inch or so... Not having a area news station because of money we get our news from Cleveland and many times they have it all wrong. Like the day I got to work a half and hour early because of a report of 6 to 10 inches in the area I worked and they had very little snow. Oh well better early then late!

I go to look out the back door thinking oh yea I won't have to much to shovel I can just use the broom. Then was NOTHING on the front porch... I see the left picture. It looks like around 6 inches back there! Oh my compost pile needs some more food cause it shouldn't even have snow on it... Good and bad I guess I am wasting less food... but need something to start the compost pile cooking... Yea what I didn't see is this fun is from the wind. Right around the corner was a drift that was twice as much..... So I get the shovel and start to shovel. OMG why did the wind decide that the perfect place for all the snow was in front of the gate and my drive-way. Correction half my drive-way. The part nearest the house had about two feet of snow and the other half none..... a light speckled dusting... well guess it is better than the whole driveway with a foot of snow!

With this crazy weather where in December and January we have had 50 to 60 degree days I am enjoying not being asked by my co-workers that are not as they put it "buying the whole global warming BS" where is your global warming now every time it snows or get cold... Funny they haven't said a peep...

Off to enjoy some hot chocolate and get ready for work........

Dancing the Night or Day away..

2012-01-04T12:34:00.001-05:00

Who needs a fancy machine that helps you lose weigh? Sign up or start the 100 days of dance . It was the brain child of Kirstie Alley, you know the woman that lost weigh doing dancing with the stars. Now I don't watch that show but we all have seen the transformation. She lost 100 pounds! Granted she did take a herbal supplement. Just for the keeping in shape part, this would be a fun way to stay fit.

I think the key is to just keep active. I feeling a little boated and trying to keep my metabolism on a even level. I know I will gain some weight after quitting smoking. But I don't want to use that as a excuse to gain too much. I do feel better but I need to keep it up. I find that eating healthy helps. Eating my first in a long time fast food hamburger last night was horrible! So healthy food for my healthier lifestyle....

Burn Baby Burn!

2012-01-04T01:18:00.002-05:00

There is talk that Cleveland is getting a new plant that will burn the trash they collect and convert it into electricity. Of course there is a group fighting this saying it not good for the environment. Stated the closed site in Columbus. But the fact is the plant in Columbus burned everything and puffed toxic smoke into the air. This plant they are proposing to build with federal grants will protect the air. As many of the Europe sites are already.

So is burning trash bad? Well Earth 911 states that it is very clean combustion under very controlled conditions. The trash is sometimes burned just to make it a smaller amount. That the trash we produce is so large they need to make it smaller and many times burning some of our trash will help reduce the amount of trash in our landfills. Because burning 1,600 pounds of trash becomes 240 pounds of ash.

PLUS the fact on the same site I learned that Dayton; which is close to Columbus for non-Ohioans, has a plant that burns trash for energy. With no smoke!

Britain is going to start using trash for energy on the Isle of Wight. Denmark has built what they call waste-to-energy plants. There is over 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.5 million people. With plans to build more (or have been built this was written in 2010). Europe has over 400 waste to energy plants.

I agree that waste free would be the way to go, the end that is we want to get to. BUT we are no where near that. Not in the least. So a trash burning plant that would produce electric is better than nothing. Maybe even produce heat like in Europe. So if this country already has these sites that burn just to reduce the amount of trash for the land fill why not make them work for us.

I mean we really wanting the future to look like in Idiocracy? Really that was a horror story from the eco-friendly view. Trash piled up everywhere and nothing growing? NOT my idea of a future I would like to see.

Earth Quake...

2012-01-01T21:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday; New years Eve, the area had a 4.0-magnitude earthquake that was centered in Youngstown . It has been found to be the result of the brine water from fracking into the earth in the area. SO the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director says that the fact the company stopped for a few months (sorry can't find the true time online) but it happened and they were not drilling, so it not the fracking that cause it.

Oh it not the thousands of gallons of brine are being injected into the ground. The fact that we have fault lines in the area and that they have been pumping this water in the ground for YEARS, so why would it happen now? they ask. Wow like really wonder why after years of thousands of gallons of brine were injected into the ground every day.... it's not the brine; it's just the fault lines... I wonder if they live in the area? Do they want that in their back yard? Plus have you read the comments on this article? People going on about this being a ecoterrorist propaganda scare piece. Wow just how far do people think we can abuse the earth and not expect a reaction? We have approximately 1,000 wells between Ohio and Pennsylvania.... 1,000 wells plus 1,000 gallons a day. DO the MATH! It equals 11 earthquakes in 2011. Wonder what 2012 will bring? Hopefully a shut down of the brine wells in the area, but then people don't want to believe that it's ecoterrorist propaganda scare.... Still I have to keep my fingers crossed for the fact that the area near my dad's house doesn't start fracking. I thought when I read year ago that the suburbs would become the new "ghetto" and to think trucks driving 24/7 and bright lights on all night... I think that the suburbs where not going to be prime property after that......
Sigh...

The Art of slowing down

2011-12-27T15:17:00.000-05:00

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.

2011-12-12T00:20:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-12-10T19:41:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-04T19:59:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-28T12:17:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-27T23:59:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-26T00:39:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-20T23:39:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-11-10T13:22:00.001-05:00

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

2011-10-28T13:18:00.003-04:00

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

2011-10-26T20:26:00.002-04:00

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!

2011-10-23T11:16:00.002-04:00

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!

2011-10-21T01:02:00.003-04:00

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

2011-10-19T23:39:00.000-04:00

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.

Blog Action Day 2011 GMOs and us.

2011-10-16T14:12:00.001-04:00

Today is Blog Action Day 2011.... Here they are asking bloggers to post blogs about the GMO's. There is suit that is trying to get the food industry to label foods that are modified. So those blueberries I talked about in my last blog post will be labeled as chemical equation not artificial colors and flavors. GMO can also mean GM seeds where they don't produce seeds that can be planted the next year...

The GMO product itself at times is less value then the natural grown product. Monsanto itself has done tests and found this to be true. Many of the test showed low protein and many health problems form GMO products. One of the things that are cross with the plant to help it grow faster and longer is peanut GMOs. That right the one fastest growing allergy in children. The one item that is growing so dangerous some children can't be in the same room as a peanut butter sandwich... Plus really can you tell us that the GMO are not helping with the nations Obesity crisis? If the genetically modified product is better at growing what does it do after eaten? Have we tested this?

In Europe the use is far more strict then in this country... make one wonder why is this country allow the big corporations to self police and do what they want without labeling or telling us?

I strongly believe that we need to label we need to adapt the ideas of Europe to ban until proven save not to allow until proven harmful. I use a web site named Shop Well that helps decide the healthier foods I can be eating.. I might not have hard facts but it seems that now we have so many of our children with food allergies and over weight.

I understand that the GMO plants all are not bad... trees that can help cut down on pollution or can help repair the damage we cause to the soil; like cleaning up winter salt or heavy metals.... but don't you think I have every right to choice weather or not I want to buy is my choice.

Making it healthier.

2011-10-13T13:52:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-10-07T20:28:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-10-06T13:18:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-10-06T11:22:00.001-04:00

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?

2011-10-04T13:29:00.001-04:00

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.

2011-09-27T14:29:00.000-04:00

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!!

2011-09-11T01:57:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-04T10:42:00.000-04:00

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!!

2011-08-28T10:12:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-27T00:11:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

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.

A house for $28,000

2011-08-19T13:23:00.000-04:00

Would you like to build a new home for only $28,000?
Tumbleweed Houses

It's back!!

2011-08-09T11:23:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-03T13:55:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-07-25T12:52:00.000-04:00

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

Check out more money saving ideas at energysavers.gov

Yummy...

2011-07-21T00:11:00.001-04:00

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!!

OMG it is hot!!

2011-07-18T18:41:00.000-04:00

So ya the mid west is getting hit by a heat wave. The humility is high and it is sticky! I really hate running the air conditioner but I forgot to turn it on the one day and the poor cats threw up everywhere, including my bed Yuck and of course it was one of those late nights that I was crawling in to bed almost dead on my feet just to have to change the sheets....

I have it set at 77 degrees So most of the time I turn it off after I get home from work and get the fans in the windows and get fresh air in the house!

But when I come home this little window unit doesn't cool off the whole house, just the living room. so all the fur babies are in the room.... Most of the time it is the little guy by the air conditioner, with Miss pet me pet me on the couch and psycho on the love seat to the right..... I get home to lazy kitties laying all over the living room.... I leave the back door open and the one pictured Miss pet me pet me loves to go out in the mud room and watch everything outside... Psycho girl loves the kitchen window open.

So now it's in the nineties and it's storming nice for a quiet evening off... Oh well laundry can hang up in the other room..,

Poison!!

2011-06-29T00:53:00.001-04:00

Argggg!!
I had long sleeved shirt on. I washed minute after weeding; not once, but 4 times with Fels-Naptha soap and pour some alcohol over my arms. I still got the rash of h#ll! I have gotten this rash 3 years straight.... It's painfull with a burning feeling all over my inner arms....

Ok so maybe I should have done this years ago but this year I got some herbicide spray to help kill it???

I did cut that plant from near the roots before gathering the cut plant into bags..... waiting 5 days till the leaves are wilting and dying.....

Wearing gardening gloves and wearing long sleeves and I still get the rash.... so I got the spray and it still lives.... OMG. It won't go away.....

You know I know what poison ivy looks like... I camp you know.... OMG I thought I knew what poison oak looked like.... I think that is what I might be fighting with.....

But I found out that cutting doesn't stop the oil (urushiol), it will stay even after the plant is dying, and it is in all parts of the d@mn plant..... the leaves, the stems, the hairy crap the plant uses on my house to cling to it and the even roots.... Which I found out is the best way to remove the plant, by diggin up the roots.... the rash takes a couple more days for me which could be because I am getting older but then it can take up to 15 days for some people. but then waking up with half my arm blistered looking feeling like someone poured hot water over it was how I found my rash.....

I also broke down and started to take some antihistamine pills. I am using a cream with calamine lotion in it and I really don't want to inch; it burns and hurts....

But I guess I know now that this what ever poison bush, climbing ivy type horrible stuff is totally got me in pain I will wear some Long washing dishes plastic gloves next year when I need to weed the flower bed!

And to think I have only been dealing with this for 3 days and it seems like a week... It will dry up and I will have my arms back with out the burning feeling..... off to take a oatmeal bath.......

Caution

2011-06-23T00:16:00.003-04:00

You tell her Ken!

2011-06-19T12:01:00.001-04:00

Poor Barbie she get so many people in a frenzy over her body shape that it isn't healthy for our young girls to compare themselves to. But this time it's her packaging that has Greenpeace and Ken upset.

People flooded Barbies facebook page with comments, Mattel had to block comments.
Ken got his own facebook page

BUT they did listen.

Quote from a press release: "Mattel announced the company is developing a sustainable procurement policy for all of Mattel's product lines which will address the important issue of deforestation. The policy will include requirements for packaging suppliers to commit to sustainable forestry management practices. In addition to addressing current concerns about packaging sourcing, Mattel's policy will also cover other wood-based products in its toy lines, such as paper, books and accessories."

Love can change the world.... And supposedly Ken is taking Barbie on a special date... Maybe to the beautiful rain forest to say hey sweetheart this is what you saved....

Eco-friendly lights

2011-06-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

Batteries contain heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel. When just tossed they will leach into the environment.
So the answer to flashlights and batteries? A hand cranking flashlight. Use your own power to power up a flashlight. I found this very cool flashlight that is also a radio that includes the weather band, a charger for your MP3 player or cell phone. Plus you can charge it with the solar panel! How cool is that. Yeck you could let the solar panel charge up during the day and then if you stay up late and need some extra power, use the crank!!

how great would that be for camping. Plus it can come in handy for when the lights go out.... or any type of bad weather....

Plus I have my eye on that lantern they also have.....

Cooking up Anti-Ant Spray

2011-06-03T12:44:00.000-04:00

So Miss Animal Rights now is now dealing with ants in her place. I thought yea I don't miss them... LOL but I don't really miss coming home after work to see the sink filled with dishes cause both girls glazed all night. But she tells me she washes the dishes every morning after Tech goes to work. But she still has ants. I don't get freaked out about them like she does. Guess it is just something you have to deal with every summer.
So guess what I saw this morning? Yep ants, at my house.... so off to find my lemon juice.

Yea I hear/read that ants don't like the taste of lemon or anything citrus. So cleaning with vinegar and/or lemon juice will help get rid of them. It is that you need to keep doing it after all... but I will do that every time I do dishes. Just add some lemon juice to the dish towel and wipe counters. My mudroom is a different story. It get the little buggers all summer and yes the lemon juice works but not for long. I guess that citrus kills the type of fungi the ant eat. Extra bonus with the great smell killing fungi.

One site I found has borax used with jelly. Any flavor jelly will work. The problem is we have cats. Oh yea my one cat the physic one, she loves PBJ. Yep she has been know to steal my sandwich from my plate..... PLUS if you have small children it not a good thing to have borax jelly traps in pop caps all over your house. Cause it can make them sick. Borax can be used in your mop water for the floors, just keep the animals and small children off the floor until it dries. If your kids that are older; you can enlist them to help you keep the pets off the wet floor. "Sweetie I need help keeping Rover off the wet kitchen floor cause it might make him sick" was all I had to say to Miss Animal Rights. She was like that since she could walk....

Now the mudroom isn't air tight that is how they get in I know it..... It is said that you can lay a line of baby powder where they get in to keep them from entering. I also hear coffee grounds can do the same thing.
They don't like the smell of coffee! That just us humans, that need it to wake up... SO hey I got some of them right now in my coffee maker!! But then I will have drink coffee all summer for it is great for my tomato plants and my roses.... Plus roses like citrus peels too....

So in my search I found a site that has a all purpose organic pesticide for inside and out. Gotta love Instructables! Where you use things like onions, hot peppers and garlic to make a pesticide for your plants. Hey it might work on your ants or other nasty crawling pest inside like the article said it works on the pest on your inside plants......

Lucky Mistake

2011-05-30T23:12:00.000-04:00

My dad is a extreme couponer...He will find deals and use coupons and get things for a quarter. Many times he will bring the items to me or Miss Animal Rights. But many things he gets on mark down and will pass on to me. So when he found some olive oil for a great price because it was a item that they only had a few left. So he got me some olive oil for a dollar. but then when he brought to my house, I noticed that it was sunflower oil and olive oil.......

So I had to check online to find out is sunflower oil good stuff like extra virgin olive oil???? I found this site: Benefits of Sunflower oil

Wow it has the some great qualities!! PLUS I have been making my own salad dressing but when I put it the refrigerator the olive oil will become solid! So I would have to let it sit out for a little while before I use it.... And having sunflower oil I use for beauty recipes, it doesn't turn solid in the cold.... one more plus for this oil.

So I have the best of all worlds!! Benefits from the extra virgin olive oil. Benefits of sunflower oil. Plus saving money! Can't beat that!

Home Cooked Meal!

2011-05-30T00:34:00.000-04:00

The way to a man's heart my momma told.. was threw his stomach... LOL

But mainly for fussy taste of my family I have been cooking from scratch, getting away from packaged meals. But lately I been seeing in line and hearing on many TV shows that has many benefits. Including saving money and being eco-friendly.

Now that I think about hey it is eco-friendly to cook from scratch.

You are using fresh ingredients at times. No packaging at all... just the fruit or vegetable of your choice. Yes organic is the best but hey you have to do what you gotta do. Frozen is the next best thing and still have larger amounts in just one bag. Which brings up the next point:

Using less packaging.... One envelope equals one meal. Where one box or bag of rice equals many meals!! Plus you can season it any way you want.... If I had kept making those envelopes I would have ever know that adding pineapple to rice can be delicious!! Or that the recipe I found for Spanish rice tastes so much like the "hot sauce rice" of that chicken restaurant we used to go to years ago that now is closed for business..... that everyone would eat like mad crazy people. And not the stuff they ate little of cause it wasn't the best, but ok.....

NO High Fructose Corn Syrup!! Ok maybe if you don't check the labels on our condiment's but still you will use less..... just like the commercial says "ok in small quantities" There is high-fructose corn syrup in packaged chicken nuggets, make chicken strips in your oven, with flour and spices.... or grill it!

Less salt, sugar and or preservatives! You control the amount. Have you ever looked at the label and saw large numbers of sugar or the sodium level???? Goodness sometimes it can be high in sugar things you never would have taught..

Use your leftovers as a lunch for work the next day. Using a reusable container you have a very green and tasty meal. I have noticed that I really do cook a little extra for lunches the next day.... AND I enjoy them more!! I don't have to pick out the peppers or peas.... I just don't put them in!!

Plus this will help save money! Less waste and better for you...

Lost my farmer's market

2011-05-27T14:25:00.001-04:00

Farmers’ Market at Stan Hywet is missing in the line up for future events...oh no I am hoping that I can find an other market around here... so far I search the site Local Harvest but it doesn't have the newer markets listed... so I am not sure where I can find them...

The pain of working retail and nights. There is a farmers market (well there was a market) downtown but it ran in the early afternoons on a Friday, when I work.... I always work on Fridays, it is the start of the week-end and we are busy.....

The best article!

2011-05-21T00:32:00.000-04:00

This is the best article I have ever read in my WHOLE ENTIRE ... on Twitpic

OMG! Obama Bin Laden is dead

2011-05-01T23:12:00.000-04:00

Obama Bin Laden is dead.... Now mind you I really don't what to diminish the fact that what this means. Yes many reasons can be a loud yea! I really think that the news on our major stations taking 15 minutes to talk to our their reports, waiting for the president to make his speech. We need to see all the news reels of Obama Bin Laden talking his hate or walking around the desert.... I am so done with the static y phones calls from the news reporter that worked with some ex-president... And how we need to remember 9/11.... We need to remember 9/11??? Excuse me I think most Americans can remember 9/11, most can still remember where they were and what they felt........

Plastic State of Mind....

2011-04-30T13:12:00.001-04:00

Bring your own don't you forget dude
And let your reps know too
Ban single use plastic toxic bags!

Wow Really? Charlie Manson?

2011-04-27T12:24:00.001-04:00

Can you believe that Charles Manson had came out and is telling people to be more eco-friendly? He goes on to say that the polar caps are melting.....

“Everyone’s God, and if we don’t wake up to that there’s going to be no weather because our polar caps are melting because we’re doing bad things to the atmosphere," telling Vanity Fair Spain. "The automobiles and fossil fuels are destroying the atmosphere, and we won’t have air to breathe. If we don’t change that as rapidly as I’m speaking to you now; if we don’t put the green back on the planet and put the trees back that we’ve butchered, if we don’t go to war against the problem…”

hummm ok... I mean he is right and all but then having Charles Mason as a spokes person well... doesn't realy seem like a match does it? But hey more power to the man, who is declined parole, he can speak his truth. Guess it gets people talking.

Do you Plarn?

2011-04-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

Plarn is yarn made from plastic bags. You can weave them into mats or you can crochet using plarn.
. I like this video cause it shows you how to cut the plastic in one long piece.... I have seen directions to cut the bag into small loops and to wrap them together to make the plarn, but that is good for bulky items. I also seen a woman that used her drop spindle and made plarn that looked like tatting yarn!!

This video this artist take the plarn to a whole higher level! Very cool stuff....

Fuse..........

2011-04-19T13:01:00.000-04:00

Fuse your plastic bags and make new bags......

What are you doing for Earth Day?

2011-04-17T17:00:00.001-04:00

Earth Day! It.s coming up! This year it is on a Friday...
Part of me thinks that Earth Day is a great idea and the other part of me doesn't. This year there is no all day celebration, just a regular ritual in the park.

I had issues last year with the whole process... People walking around with bottles of water... not reusable containers... not the people visiting the people putting on "workshops". I thought that the whole thing was too commercialized for the whole fact is earth day is to protect the earth not sell more stuff... yea we had some artist there and a couple seed booths. It just seemed that they forgot what the earth day movement was all about...

This year there is the gulf oil spill yes it started before earth day but lasted 3 months, Japan — Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis, animals dying in numbers, and the budget cuts that include the EPA..... what can Earth day become? So knowing me I am doing the ritual this Earth Day. Asking people to pledge a act of going green. Will it last more than a year? I wonder.... But maybe the act of asking people to take a rock as a talisman to their promise to the earth.

Guess I think too much and expect too much because I do understand that habits are hard to change..... But maybe the fact is what I plan to say is true.... even a small change times as many people in the world equals a huge change........

Ads do they show sexism?

2011-04-16T01:15:00.000-04:00

This is what a blog cloud of the poplar labels for ads for girls toys would look like......

yea we say when we read the bold words, thing we want to teach our children....

Of course Love, fun, share and girl yea that is right... then the small words fashion, baking, kitchen and what ever....

But wait this is the most used phases in Boy ads......

Battle Power!

Another WOW story

2011-04-15T12:53:00.001-04:00

I know it happens in almost every home. Someone throws their coat on a chair.... So a designer named Joey Zele`on came up with a chair made of plastic hangers!!

I know I do it myself... with my purse also hanging there.
I even got a wire over the door hanging hook thingy... but habits die hard!

Plus where am I going to put the wipe off the wet dog towel??? LOL

How cool is that? a chair that reminds people to use the hanger...
But then I can see my family just lloking at it and say wow that's crazy and throw their coat over it anyway........ LOL
Would you get a chair like this? I would think it would be a good chair for a public place but then that me...

Use less...

2011-04-02T23:32:00.006-04:00

Doing my eco-friendly thing, I have a old office chair that I sit in as I surf the web.... but the problem is that the cats also love it.... they have realy really like it... As you can see, they like to climb to the top of the chair. Sometimes they will sharpen their nails on the side there!!!

It kinda bothered me that I had this horrible looking chair, it wasn't broke or really too bad, just has this part of the chair that is torn up!!!

I was reading the Sunday Morning paper and noticed that one store had bucket seat covers on sale. I thought wow that might work.... Oh yea it works.... Yea the back isn't as tight as the cover would be in the car. I thought I might cut and sew something to help it if needed. But I use that sun pillow because I am short and my legs don't hit the floor while my back is to the back of the chair.

Aw I have a "new" chair and I didn't add to the landfill! My family laughed when they saw it and asked where I go the just one seat cover... Really they asked if I had the other one... LOL BUt I think they are getting one for their beaten up chair..........

Thank-you Sweet Stuff

2011-03-31T13:38:00.000-04:00

Yes Maple Syrup is good for us... ScienceDaily reported that University of Rhode Island researcher Navindra Seeram; who is famous for his research on plant healing! Working foods and flowers into the plan of healing the human conditions. Helping us understand that adding some dark colors of food to our plate can help us fight cancer, diabetics and pain.

Maple syrup was used by the Native Americans to help them though the winter months. They used it as food and as medicine. They would reduce the syrup by adding hot stones or letting it freeze and removing the frozen water layer. The settlers are the ones that would use the big cast iron pots to boil down the liquid. For the sugar from the Indies was highly taxed so the maple sugar was a local item....

They found that maple syrup has anti-oxidant, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which have been shown to fight cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's and bacterial illnesses. 54 beneficial compounds, anti-oxidant compounds, and a unique compound that they believe is created when the sap is boiled to the syrup............It contains manganese. It is also a good source of zinc.0 trans fats, and 0 cholesterol, ok I am getting silly here but it is a great product that normally we wouldn't think that it is a super food!!

So remember it must be real maple syrup (you know the stuff that is more expensive...

Store in the refrigerator after opening, if you find a good price or stocking up for the months it is hard to get (getting from the farmer market??) You can freeze the wonderful liquid... just make sure you defrost it before use, like place in the refrigerator when running low...

So pour that golden ymmness over your pancakes.....add that real maple syrup to your oatmeal, tea or whatever. Thanks to Rachael Ray I also use it for a sweetener for a glaze or a marinate.. It is healthy for you... And I ran out!!

Good for your hair recipes

2011-03-30T12:56:00.003-04:00

Rinses

Lemon juice
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup of water
Makes hair shine

Beer
For body and softness - doesn't matter if it is stale!

Rum
Light conditioning.

Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup vinegar 2 cups of water
For shine and bounce

Tomato Juice
1 cup tomato juice
Removes odors

Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon
1 cup of water
Removes the sprays and gels.

Highlighting Rinse
2 cups water
Chamomile tea
Steep Chamomile tea and cool

Darken Hair Rinse
5 cinnamon sticks
2 cups of water
Put broken sticks into boiling water.
Steep until cool
Strain before using.

Deep Conditioning
Dry Hair
Coconut oil, banana, avocado, Mayonnaise

Normal Hair
Mayonnaise, egg, olive oil, Plain yogurt

Oily Hair
Mayonnaise with lemon juice added,
Plain yogurt with lemon juice added,
mashed Cantaloupe

Beauty From the Kitchen

2011-03-26T12:48:00.004-04:00

Non-Petroleum Jelly
1¼ oz. grated beeswax
3/4 cup sweet almond oil (or olive oil)

Place in a microwave proof container and heat till the wax is almost melted about 1 minute. Mix until wax is melted and pour into containers

I love this stuff. You can had herbs or flower petals to the oil and let steep for a day or two if you want a nice smell or the healing properties of the herbs and flowers. Plus you can always add vitamin E for open sores and healing... Pour oil with herbs or petal threw a cheesecloth before heating with the bee wax.

My Make-up Remover
1 tablespoon Castor oil
1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 teaspoons almond oil
Add together in a glass bottle. Mix together.
Some times I have used vitamin E oil and once I got for a good price some Jojoba oil (very good for dry skin I used it in the winter time) and did 1 tablespoon and 1 tablespoon of almond and the rest of the oils 2 tablespoons.

My Face Scrub
2 part ground oatmeal
1 part wheat germ
1 part corn meal

Ground to a fine powder. I use the blender. I have sensitive skin so I use more oatmeal then the recipe calls for just to be safe.

Things I use for a all body scrub:
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Ground oatmeal (great for sensitive skin)
Coffee grounds (used coffee grounds will work)

Honey Mask

Honey
Apply honey to face
Pat face gently until tacky
Rinse with warm water

Fruit Masks
And some vegetables and others......
Add fruit mashed up directly to face.

Dry to Normal
Apple, Grapes, Oranges, Honeydew, Pears, Watermelon, Nectarine, Avocado

Normal
Tangerine, Banana , Peppermint , Cantaloupe Citrus, Carrot, Peach, Zucchini

Oily
Banana, Cherry, Lemons , Grapefruit, Strawberry, Avocado, Tomato, Peppermint

All skin Type
Yogurt, Cucumber, mayonnaise , eggs

Carrot Yogurt Acme Mask

2 tablespoons carrots
2 tablespoon yogurt

Slightly cook carrots
Mash with yogurt

(Can also grade carrots into yogurt Blend in blender until smooth)
Apply to face Rinse with tepid water
Tepid= kinda like room temperature

Yea it's like That!

2011-03-25T11:44:00.003-04:00

If Mother Earth could she would do that !

Look what I Found

2011-03-23T12:23:00.001-04:00

Signs of Spring in my front flower garden............

Nice to see after a hard winter...
But then I see I do have some work to do with the flower garden...... sigh.... But I can't wait till the weather is warm and I can dig in the dirt!!

Super Moon! TaDA!

2011-03-19T23:56:00.001-04:00

Tonight the moon was the closet to the earth that it has been since 1993....the moon was at a distance of 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers ). The moon looked huge in the sky, I tried to take a picture and it just made the moon "glow"...
But as you can see. You can see my neighbor's house and my tree with the huge grape vine growing around around in a really cool way.....

I had to work tonight then I did some errands. I wonder if I could have gotten a better picture earlier in the night like right at dusk....

So there are so many different stories out there about the super moon making the tides higher than normal.... the moon effect the tides but it doesn't really do all that for the super moon... There is talk that the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami was from the effects of this super moon.... that or that it starts the "Mayan calendar" and it is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it..Supposedly the calendar that ends on December 21, 2012. So I guess Prince was wrong, we should party like it's 2012.....

Wow isn't that something!

2011-03-16T22:48:00.003-04:00

So today I am just relaxing reading a butch of sites here online... I find some really creative sites! Well we have a woman; Margaux Lange that uses barbie pieces to make jewelry. It has to be seen to believe! Plus she has a blog right here on blogger! Not sure if it is appropriate to post her pictures as in copyrighted!

She uses Barbie Parts that's right Barbie parts. You have to check out her stuff... I like the necklace with Ken holding Barbies face necklace!!

Detox

2011-03-11T01:01:00.000-05:00

I think I am going threw detox or something, I have mistakenly smoked a cigarette here and there, ok so lately it been more than that........ It's been a very hard month and a half, with funerals and other real live stuff that can be depressing.... I keep saying I have done it this long not to go back to smoking. Then I say why bother I am going to get me a pack of cigarettes after _fill in blank_ and then I forget about it........ I realize that hey I made it all day!!

But the last couple of times I quit smoking I went threw times that my taste buds changed... well I went threw this I don't like the taste of most things.... strange I know....

I went threw the only thing that tasted good was fruit last time. Dried fruit.. specially cherries. With blueberries as a close second.... This time I find myself using the hot sauce bottle a lot... maybe I have been fighting a head cold last month... but ... maybe allergies....

Now I have been cooking more from scratch and thought dang my skills are rusty because most of my food has no taste....... that is one more thing I think is why this is happening.... I don't like the taste of over processed foods...I do however at times (usually at someone else house or dinning out...) have eat them.... Now they have a metal taste or a over powering chemical taste... Unless it is a candy type add a couple quarters to the machine quick bite... then it is overly sweet... sickly sweet.... but I feel bloated and uncomfortable... but I not eating much because of this and my lack of taste...

I have visited a couple quit smoking site that say the bloating is due to my body's digestive flora.... ummmm ok, but it just saying give it a while to work it self out.... but really this my 6 months anniversary well last week was.... so it was the couple of cigarettes I smoked last week? I just getting a little irritated at the lack of enjoyment for food... kinda bums me out..........

Plus how could I gain 6 pounds if I don't eat??? Doesn't seem fair...........

Plant Bottles!

2011-03-05T13:48:00.000-05:00

The heinz ketchup bottle is becoming Green!!!
Heinz press release where the company that will make 120 million PlantBottle™ packages in 2011.... they plan on production to start soon and the bottle hitting the shelves in June!! I just wonder if they will do this for the ketchup made without the high fructose syrup... the organic or the Simply Heinz ketchup.... That would be great the organic ketchup in a plantbottle....

They also state on their site that they use NO genetic-modification, that just traditional breeding techniques. But as many gardeners will tell you that tomatoes are hearty plants.... for the most part. Plus they have had years and years to get this right! They started making ketchup in 1876....

Really how can you turn down a sassy label like that? Unless you want the labels that says things like Take me to your Burger.... I never saw a french fry I didn't like or I'm your secret ingredient!!

Spring get here Soon!!

2011-03-03T00:26:00.000-05:00

I am running out of berries!! I had to gasp buy some raspberries from the store for my muffins..

I used that last of the tomatoes not to long ago for the chili. Oh the tomatoes taste so fresh when I freeze them and then use them in cooking.... takes me back to summer threw my taste buds!

Bummer thing is that I am running out of the wonderful veggies from the freezer and now spring needs to get here so I can do it all over again!!

The National Center for Home Food Preservation
is where I find out what to do for my freezing of my garden and farmers market finds (you know: to freeze it before it goes bad!!!)

Your Cookbook??? Or is it Portions?

2011-02-27T13:36:00.000-05:00

According to the Cornell Study Older cookbooks can make us healthier. Mostly because of portion control.. supposedly recipes have less fat, but I found nothing that really said that in those words in the article... I guess the fact is that we need to watch our portions and use less trans-fats, salt and sweeteners...

I have a cookbook that I use that was my grandmother who I lost when I was only 8 years old. Miss Animal Rights wants that book she tells me that she will pass it on to her daughter... I use it for peanut butter cookies, fudge and bread sticks that I also use to make as pizza dough!
It was published in the 50's. So I guess it not the old cookbook in the study they are talking about...

But I believe that many of the prepackaged foods are high in sodium, fat, preservatives, artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors; things that our bodies have a hard time digesting. Plus if you read the label many time the amount that we eat is more than one serving... many people blame the "fast food giants" for that, you know the super size and biggie that for me, we get use to larger potions... eating more than we need... If you check the label on the "healthy prepackaged foods" you will see high sodium and artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors.

SO what is a momma to do???

So maybe the healthier thing is limit using these foods, I know I still can't find a rice recipe they like better then the package... Plus I know some days are realy rough and to say no meals like that without weaning them off the box...... is hard to do... I have slowly made fresh in place of the favorite prepackaged items, plus the few time I made something from a box I have some from scratch to go with...

But I still enjoy the ease of frozen fruits and veggies, they are picked fresh then "flash frozen" as the commercial says.... I was think I better add that if someone didn't know that yes they are packaged but not in the category of prepackaged foods per say.....

It's happening again...

2011-02-25T13:44:00.001-05:00

Hey where are those young gentlemen that will snow blow my driveway for 5 dollars???? Guess they are really really busy today!!

If you live in the North East you know the storm that is going threw our area.

The view from my front door...

Some areas the news said got a inch a hour.... they are in the snow belt of Ohio, where because of Lake Erie they more snow....

It's great packing snow! SO all those kids that have the day off, can build snow figures. LOL

In front of my garage! after I shoved... AND I didn't do the whole driveway.

I was sweating under my coat but my face was burning from the wind and cold... so I only did part of the driveway and my sidewalks for the people who will probably still walk in the middle of the road during the snow storm later because not everyone shoves their sidewalks.... grrr....

But last time I got to drive to work in a snow storm, yea I went 40 MPH but then at rough places I went 20MPH. Tool me 40 minutes to get to work, when it normally takes 20. then it took me a hour to get home from work later that night and gasp I was a half a mile behind a snow truck, I think by the looks of the road they where plowing.... cause the next lane looked like it had 4 inches of snow....

Ah the joys of living in Ohio.... And the kicker is it was 50 something with rain...last week and next week we are in for more rain..... Yea flooding ahead for the area....

Ziplock bags recycling coming to a Grocery Store near You

2011-02-16T13:16:00.002-05:00

It is estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are throw away everyday. Plus it takes over a thousand years for them to decompose. Only 13% is recycled.... that's 87% ending up in our trash, many being eaten by the wildlife.... Your child can produce around 180 plastic baggies just from school lunches!!

Yes it is true that SC Johnson, the parent company of the Ziploc brand,is starting a recycling idea! SOON you can right next to the store plastic bags recycle bin; recycle your ziplock bags! You will of course need to wash and dry them before placing them in the bins... that is any ziplock sandwich, storage, or freezer bags.

Recyclebank where you earn points for recycling. Of course my area doen't have the curb recycling that is with Recyclebank But I earn points other ways... Like typing in the codes from speically marked ziplock bags on the site!!

They estimate that over 18,000 stores will be part of the program and the first store will bin Texas.....

You can even win Cuisinart® GG-12 Green Gourmet Eco-Friendly Nonstick Hard Anodized 12-Piece Cookware Set or the Big Green Cookbook!!

It's your choice....

2011-02-10T13:14:00.000-05:00

You may want to Opt out of the Yellow pages deliveries or not. For something I didn't know that the yellow pages are made from recycled newspapers and residual chips, the unusable pieces of wood that are cut off at the lumber mill when they are cutting the logs.... they all so use vegetable-based inks and eco-friendly adhesives as not to pollute the ground water

They also have a link to how to recycle your old book...

Turn Down for Weight Loss??

2011-02-04T11:41:00.001-05:00

Cold house can help in weight loss yahoo report... Basically they believe if we turn our thermostats down to lower 60's, we will lose more weight. That we stay inside and just vegging out on our couches. But if we turn down the thermostat we will not get the rush of OMG it is cold outside, not wanting to go out into the cold... that we will get use to being warm.....

hummm so why did I find this map showing the states of the north and the south about the same.... Colorado being the healthiest state and Mississippi being the most obese. humm really looking at the map seems the "middle" of the country is the part that needs to work on their diets The middle like the middle of our bodies where the belly fat is most dangerous place to have fat, for it can cause problems for all your organs!!

It isn't just diet that causes obesity. Then again we know that; don't we. That diet and exercise is what we need. Yet the school system still feeds out kids junk and cuts down on gym classes and recess...
We keep the thermostat about 67 degrees because if I turn it down any more the girls would just hind under blankets and complain about it being freezing in here... At 67 it is cool enough to have a sweatshirt on and make you move a little to keep warm.... Now for their friends.... they like to show up in t-shirts and bitch how cold it is in my house... Well, they really have to learn that I conserve energy and they need to wear something heavier than a t-shirt here.... Or look in the living room closet there are large and ex=large sweatshirt for them to use while here... Oh yea we got them just for you... PS Tech wears t-shirt and it doesn't really bother him.... it like the man doesn't feel cold or warmth... he doesn't complain about the air not being up on high in the summer time either.......

You see I also goggled poverty in the USA... Guess what state is the number 1? It is Mississippi... the state with the large percent of obese people......It the prepackage foods that are higher in saturated fat, sodium and sugar... the cheap stuff in cardboard boxes, the fast food lane with the dollar menus... the fact that many of these states are the climate for fresh foods mostly all year long, but they have the highest poverty........ BUT I think from shows like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution it shows that many Americans don't have the knowledge of how to cook tasty foods for themselves with time limits and

I did get off on the tangent..Did I? ... but I think that what you eat and how much you exercise not how cold you are......

It is 7 degrees where is your globial warming now?

2011-02-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

Oh yea I hear that all the time from my debaters... The better term to explain the winter blast and blizzards that has hit this country is climate change. The fact is that yes the arctic shelf is melting. The North pole and south pole are getting smaller every year. The fact is NASA believes that the ice is getting thin and has gotten thinner by 40% since 2004.........

So what the heck does this mean? so what they say.... well seeing how you have to remember that adding ice to anything changes it... the sea levels rise. the currants change.......... I remember seeing the show with ex President Clinton where he showed that the European shore including Untied Kingdom could be covered in ice and snow as in a new ice age...That adding more liquid to the air produces more precipitation but can dry up in other ares making them desert like...
. The EPA has a site explaining this...

Crazy think is people don't think it is important that we
try to stop this now , stating that why should they worry they aren't going to be around for it, or stating that there is plenty of oil and gas.

Yea but the oceans can't be replace. The ice shelves can't magically be replaced.....
But I think that the movement to change the thinking of big business and governments is slowly happening.... I have to think that

Snow day!!

2011-02-02T14:16:00.000-05:00

Wow I got lucky with my schedule I have today off and this morning it was 40 degrees and raining... last night it was freezing rain... and now the temps are going down to the teens..... yea the snow and rain will become ICE.... Chicago is having the third biggest blizzard the city has ever seen... Closer to home Cleveland and Canton has many homes without electricity. Lodi outlet mall was closed last night early. The Zoo and many more places closed for the last two days.

What really concerns me is the fact I watched the ticker tape at the end of the screen on my TV thinking dang... look at all those places. Of course my inner child said OMG it must be really bad out that the Rootstown school system was closed.... LOL but then I saw the zoo and the mall.... OK now it is really hitting home......
But my heart sank when I see in most of the county's the mobile meals are canceled.. It's our areas Meals on Wheels

It kinda sad that the housebound that depend on those meals that are brought by volunteers might not have anything to eat for two days..... I understand that they don't want to endanger the volunteers.

Shampoos

2011-02-01T18:52:00.000-05:00

The best green shampoo......Liquid Castille Soap! Wrong... it breaks me out... I have very sensitive skin that includes my scalp! So most homemade shampoos use this ingredient..And most green health food store brands shampoo use chamomile... Chamomile is part of the Asteraceae plant family, which includes ragweed and chrysanthemum, If you have allergies, chamomile may cause some reaction.... If I use chamomile on my face or hair.... My eyes swell up and I can't breathe..... fun times trying to find a herbal shampoo! I was using a unscented shampoo but then it stopped working. So really they say that the shampoo doesn't stop working your needs -your hair needs change.... but hey I have to switch... Found one that I missed the chamomile.... it was like smack in the middle... I read right over it... and I learned even a little amount... judging by the fact it wasn't one the first key ingredients... I will not be able to breathe normally..and look like I cried for days.. grrr....

So many health food store shampoo have chamomile and or are over $10 a bottle.... too rich for my budget. The grocery isle of healthy organic shampoos are the same thing....

When I first started to use the organic shampoos I would have to wash my hair every day or my hair would look so greasy. Now I wash my hair every couple of days and looks fuller. Well that before trying to find my shampoo.... there are some that dry out my hair (ok I saved it for summer, for those sweaty summer days..Worked great them!!) Then the ones that made my hair look even more greasy...

I tried the no poo -hummm I couldn't do it. I know there is a adjusting period but I couldn't do it...my hair was too greasy. It made my head itch. I "washed" with conditioner, that too made my hair look too greasy and flat. Then I try to make my own... yea the liquid castille soap allergy was uncovered after my first homemade herbal shampoo... green tea shampoo..... I had bumps that inched and hurt! So no more Castille soap, I did try straight castille soap on my body and got the same rash... and it really hurts!!

So my last recipe.... thing is I found this from a baby shampoo recipe and a regular shampoo recipe with milk so I thought I make a hybrid of the two.....

Milk Shampoo

1/4 cup Non-Fat Dry Milk
1/4 cup Whole Milk
1 tablespoon Corn Starch
2 tablespoons of honey

Combine ingredients in a clean container.;It makes a thick paste. Use just as you would a mask for your hair.I left on for about 5 minutes. I used it on my face and my windburned arms....... nice and soft soothing...
I did rinse for longer then normal just cause I don't want to smell like spoiled milk later...
The only problem is I found was my hair was a little snarly. So I did use some coconut oil that I use on my hands. I rub my hands with a small amount, you only need a very small amount; and then I ran them over the ends of my hair. My scalp I very lightly ran my hands over the hair... and soon my comb was going threw my hair without a problem.... You can use your hair conditioner or hand cream like that too...

Guess we will see how this plays out...........

Wind burn!

2011-01-29T01:14:00.000-05:00

I wonder if it is true that once you get windburn you should be careful you will get it again... Well that what my grandmother would tell me, that remember that so I would cover up better??? Yea I think that was the reason..... BUT I had the worst windburn, after the windchill of -10.... a couple of weeks ago.

I know it is not wind burn it is my skin being too dry.... maybe it isn't windburn because I didn't get blisters.... but it does look like someone dragged me for miles. That rug burn.... the nasty red rash... the burn from hell... It really hurts.....

I have wind burn on both legs, mostly on the sides. as well as my arms and lower back..... and to think I was out there scraping off my windows and helped scrape a co-worker windows (older lady who has a heart condition and was having trouble with the wind "taking her breath away"..) with another co-worker... it was one of those nights that it was bitter cold and the wind was going right threw you...

So the shower was a very painfully experience...That is when I found out my condition.. . first thing I thought of was a oatmeal bath. I use a oatmeal and wheat germ scrub for my face so I just started a bath and dumped some it to the water.

Oh I have been putting coconut oil on my body every chance I get. I put some in a old make-up container right by the potty..... I put on some grape seed oil right before I jump in the shower....
It's getting better day by day.... I broke down and got some lotion from the health food section at the store for my hands because the coconut oil wasn't lasting very long. Plus as much as I spend on making my own I could buy their lotion and it lasts longer.....

Puppy Dog tails....

2011-01-23T13:45:00.004-05:00

I was suppose to get a dog from a friend of a friend...she was moving cross country and couldn't take her dog. So I meet with her and the dog is super cool and everything. I was taken back at the size of this canine.... he was quite big..... but hey no problem I was thinking when petting him.... good guard dog etc.... well I get my schedule for the last week of Jan and see 20 hours??? WTH? I'm not too sure about this....... I can and have lived on 30 dollars a week for food but not with a large dog.... I am kinda strange I don't like feeding the dogs something cheap for most of the time that it messes with them in some way. Like upset stomachs, vomiting, more gas and more of dog poop in the back yard.. So yea I worry about the money end.... I hesitated when she asked about the dog, about changing my mind. I truthfully told I wasn't a 100% sure........ so she did find another family that wanted him. Good for the dog! But I still felt bad for being wishy washy. I kinda beat myself up for it...

SO when I awoke the other day and found a notice from Vitim Association saying there has been numbers of break in in the area, giving numbers for the police and them for help.... I thought this is the universes way of saying shame on you for going back on your word and now you see why you should have said yea I will take the dog...... Yea I have been around the 2 drama queens too long... but I have been missing them!! Guess it is the cabin fever to the max!

So I am talking to my dad about it.... he told well you were thinking about the dog, first..... And then tell me about his neighbor that has puppies. I was like I don't have time for house breaking and chewing up everything..... just toys.... Animal Rights laughs and says they are not puppies then are like what 8 months old... My dad said yea they are almost a year old... and housebroken.... They were puppies in the spring when I first told you about them.... ummmm ok... maybe I will get a smaller dog......... and protection for my house......

Well I have not been to meet the puppy yet. I know my dad's neighbor... and she knows me. But of course I pick a bad time -however it can be a good time later... She has just gotten surgery on her knee. She might not want company too soon. But a good timing see how we both work retail and to find a time we both are off (plus she is a mom... whose kids have after school stuff and that type of thing, well you mom's know what I mean!!!)

Most people believe that the barking dog scares away the would be robber. The noise is more a deteriorate then the fear of being bit..However as one learned at a friends house sometimes you get both!!
Yea kick in her door meet her 5 dogs...( She does foster homeless dogs)... . run back out the door.... well at least they closed the door behind them..... the last one didn't and her deaf dog took off after them... took her a couple days to find him!!

Fever!!

2011-01-21T20:09:00.000-05:00

Cabin fever is spending like wild fire at work and now gasp to my family........... Snow again with 2-5 inches today, 2-5 more tonight and a wind chill of -2 degrees... oh yea Cabin fever time....

Restlessness, moodiness, cranky and just one big downer lately. I was talking at work with a couple of the ladies I work with and I replied that I felt like I had PMS multiplied 10 times!!!! Then I heard them go OMG Yes.... wow gee I am sorry if I have been really cranky... nope, they replied that they felt that way too. like on edge and moody..Like extra strong PMS....

Plus it seems that I really have lost my appetite not sure if it is part cold, or my cabin fever or the quit smoking thing.... but I really am having problems with eating to much right now... I eat and feel bloated or things don't taste right.... I still finding my new tastes from the lack of smoking pickling my tonne.... plus trying not to go there.... helps that I banded smoking in my house and tell myself - "You don't want to go outside and freeze!!" when I feel like giving in....... I also found that I am adding more heat to things like tacos, so maybe it is that cold isn't gone 100%......... that is helping make things tasting bland....

Can the snow and the cold winds bring this horrible fever to the mass of the frozen northeastern Ohio?? Or is this a man made disaster...Or hormonal scramble with the all these females in the same area? Like when our hormones talk to each other and we all get that time of the month together??

I saw get a blog and whine and bitch about it and you will feel a little better.........Oh I just remember I bought some steak at the store...... Maybe a "grilled" steak will help the fever......... yumm with ton of grilled onions... and a baked sweet potato...

Ohio Winters are Tough Winters!

2011-01-20T13:31:00.001-05:00

Ah the fun of working til late. You walk out at 9PM and your windows are a sheet of ice. The local news had this story. They reported that if you spray the windows with a mix of vinegar and water at night they wouldn't ice up the next morning. They also told us that if you add some rubbing alcohol to the windshield wiper fluid; you could just use your windshield wipers to clear off ice.

SO thinking about this, I don't trust the rubbing alcohol idea at all. Basic Science class teaches us that you add water and cold temperatures= ICE! Add more water or windshield wiper fluid= more ice. I learned that when I first learned to drive... duh...I really don't think adding 5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol to your fluid will change the out come that much.... because yes alcohol doesn't freeze but maybe it would clear your windows better...... but hope you never get pulled over.... You might have some problems explaining to the officer doing his job that what he smells is your windshield fluid.... Right!!! LOL Plus I think it would cost more to add enough alcohol to the windshield fluid to make a difference..... just my thoughts. Plus many companies have a winter mix that is suppose to help! But rain X didn't work for me, it just smeared my windshield and I couldn't remove it!! It was a clear picture just a little fuzzy, but still bothered me....

So I did a experiments of the 2 part vinegar plus 1 part water, to spray on the windows I did this one day after I got to work..... they reported that you spray the windows at night and in the morning no ice. I added the 5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol to the spray bottle. Guess what I had ice after a 8 hour shift. I did spray the water on the windshield to just see if the rubbing alcohol would help to remove the ice.... Just for experiential value. Guess what it didn't remove the ice but it didn't ice it up any more..... Didn't help didn't hurt.... But it does give you a shock when your purse falls into it and it sprays while you are driving down the expressway..... Vinegar and rubbing alcohol smells, woke me up......... LOL

Now all I have to do is teach the other drivers that scraping a small hole in the drivers side and not even removing the snow off your car is a dangerous thing to do, but any one that lives up north knows there are many people that still do it......

Warming up the Car

2011-01-15T00:58:00.000-05:00

It's cold outside and the windows are frosted, do you let your car warm up to clear the windows or do you scrape and go? Which is better for the car?

I set out to find the answer. I remember the sites on hypermiling, that said anything over 10 minutes idle is wasting gas. (No I don't turn off my engine at a traffic light- that's over kill in my book) So I thought no, it must be no.... I googled and read some sites about this. I even saw a segment on the local news about it....

The truth is that newer cars have a fuel injection that they don't need to warm up. Where many years ago it was a good idea to warm the car for a few minutes in the cold to help the engine. that why many of the warm up the car engine people are older. (Sorry DAD.... but he did see the piece on the local news and said ok..... I don't need a warm up- and then had to tell me that!!)

Most cars don't need that extra couple of minutes to warm up to help the engine. We are talking cars that are 20 years or younger. the older, carbureted cars,a extended warm-up can damage the engine by diluting the oil with excess fuel. That is just wasting gas and Co2.........causing more air population! About the only time you need to warm up is when the weather is in the teens, you can wait a minute or two before driving.........

But many people believe that warming up the car is faster than driving the car to warm it up... Not really the car get "warmer" faster driving.

But yea we all have had that kinda night where the inside glass was frosted and you let it run a few minutes while you get the snow off your car...... come to think about it it was those nights it dropped in to the teens... the joy of working second shift!! I do however watch people that don't want to have to scrap off their cars just sit in their cars to wait for the snow to get melted off by the window defogger...... that is wasting gas and can be damaging to the engine......

Real Beauty.........

2011-01-13T12:47:00.001-05:00

The model Isabella Caro dies at the age of 28. She was the model for the ad in the No Anorexia campaign, showing her skeleton shaped body for all of Paris to see. She also wrote a book to help with insight to her eating disease.
It was titled _The Little Girl that didn't want to get Fat_ I believe is the title...
With more and more people mostly women being treated for eating disorders it seems that we should be doing something more! Please the youngest girl to be treated for anorexia on record is 4! 4 Years old and she is worried about her weight........... this subject makes me crazy.... that the fact that many beauitful people don't see the beauty in themselves and find the need to hurt themselves........

But can we blame the fashion industry? Marketing companies?

Just thinking out loud...

I really Need IT!

2011-01-06T00:54:00.001-05:00

Wow more dead birds!

2011-01-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

More animals are dying in mass numbers... seems so spooky...

After the birds in Arkansas now it is 500 dead blackbirds in Louisiana, yesterday. Today brought 50 dead birds in Sweden....
The study done on the birds from Arkansas showed signs of stress, meaning they think it was the firecrackers from the fireworks... which hummm a hour before the new year the birds just knew that there where going to be fireworks so they just dropped out of the sky stressing.... But add more birds falling from the sky....

And then if that isn't too weird, there has been more reports of fish floating to shore............ First was the 83,000 dead drum fish in Arkansas......... they believe it was because there was a bloom in population of this type of fish so they didn't have the ability to fight infections..... now there are reports of millions of fish floating to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, that they blame cold water stress.... (but can't say climate change??? Really with warming come ice melting on Greenland icebergs...) Monday reports of tons of fish (sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead since last Thursday off the coast of Parana. Today it is in New Zealand, 100's of snapper fish are floating to shore without eyes..........

SO is it climate change? Or over population of the air and sea? The signs to end of the world? Biblical? Mayan calender? Ok so I really don't usually follow the conspiracy theories... but you have say wow this is getting weird.... Hey if there are massive deaths of mammals I will really freak out!

DIY Pore Strips For Less

2011-01-05T12:13:00.000-05:00

DIY Pore Strips For Less Very cool recipe for making your own pore strips. Save money! Less toxic!

Now it is Fish!!

2011-01-04T00:15:00.001-05:00

OMG now I see that fish in Arkansas is dying. After 5,000 blackbirds fell out of the sky we have 100,000 fish floating up to shore...... They don't think it is a poison because more than just one type of fish would have floated to shore...

What is happening in Arkansas??

2011-01-03T12:23:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! Ok I am late but I hope it was good....

Wow it was not for the black birds in Arkansas. Where depending on what report you hear or read over 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky. The New York Post reports that they don't believe that the birds where poisoned. Yahoo who I will not post a link to had a racist sound to the news blaming the fireworks of the Mexican population.... wow there is still some real problems that people can't get along!!!

You might notice that many people are blaming the green house effect or better wording for the nay saysers of how can it be globial warming if I got snow in Atlanta???? would be climate change.

We wait for the reports from the National Wildlife Health Center for answers on this strange omen from Arkansas............

Healthy Junk food!!

2011-01-02T21:18:00.001-05:00

SO just so you know I love oxymorons!! Healthy what??? Healthy food dressed up as Junk food is more like the truth!

Have you seen the new ad program for Baby Carrots? Where they have some very overt sexual innuendos and the fact is that is said during the video..... Don't watch around young ones:

Baby Carrots | Eat 'Em Like Junk Food | Indulge

But they have some cool new Junk food package that you can download and place your "boring" carrots into to get your young one to eat... Like Junk food....

So will changing the outer package to a junk food looking package make kids want it more? Using stupid stints help sell the food? Or insulting the mother of little ones by using very overt sexual innuendos in a commercial help sell carrots??? Oh yes .... baby carrots....

Last I heard about baby carrots there was a group that wanted the labeling off baby carrots to be stopped for the fact was they are not baby carrots. They used to be the carrots that where too short, crooked or broken carrots....... so a smart farmer decided to peel them down to a uniform smaller size. OK so there is no truth to the rumor that they are soaked in chlorine. Check out Snopes!

BUT the truth is now they are breed for the sweetness and size that kids love!! So the group trying to get the name changed was a mood point I believe cause they can be "baby" as in size. Yea some of us farmers know the spring weeding vegetables are young and tender. That is what they believe is baby carrots. I say hey my girls love those carrots as young one so I love those carrots!! I used to tell her dad that hey it worth the extra money cause she eats the baby carrots but not the regular carrots! And still does!! I thought that it had to be a mother trying to get her children interested in good food.... you know like the fact that pizza was a invention to get the kids lunch and use up the bread from the night before.

So now we have a company or is that a group well they call themselves :a bunch of carrot farmers... really more like a very creative marketing person!! But hey I think that this might take off! Junk food packaging on healthy food? Hey they started with cheese and drink boxes... What can they do that to next??? What would you love if they junk food-ised packaging for?

Busy in the Kitchen

2010-12-09T20:55:00.001-05:00

Oh I have been cooking some fudge and candies for gifts. I made some wonderful glazed nuts to scatter in my packages. of cookies and candies
....
Plus some sugar scrubs.... for the ladies on my list..... Some have part brown sugar and part white sugar with oatmeal cinnamon and pumpkin spice for a wonderful oatmeal cookie scrub.
The recipe is kinda easy...

1 cup Brown or white sugar or a combination of each
1/2 cup of ground fine oatmeal
1/2 cup of oil (sunflower, safflower, peanut, almond or grapeseed)

the sugars equal 2 parts while the oil equals 1part and then add a sprinkle of the spices.
The oil that you use in everyday cooking isn't the best to make a scrub with but can work in a pinch (if you need to use right away...) but they don't keep and are not the greatest for leaving your skin soft. Watch out for nut allergies if you or anyone one in your family (or the person you are gifting this to ...) have allergies to nuts use the safflower or grapeseed oils.
Safflower oil is great for anyone with very dry skin.a heavier oil
Grapeseed for those of us that have very sensitive skin. very light oil that quickly absorbs.
Plus add a little grapeseed oil to help keep the scrub longer or Vitamin E oil. I know vitamin E oil or jojoba can be very expensive so when I saw vitamin E oil for cheap I had to get a couple bottles!! So my beautiful ladies with get a few drops of this wonderful oil added.

The Reason For the Season

2010-12-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

Wow have you seen Yahoo! Ripples Of Kindness ? It's a site where people can post their acts of kindness, causing a ripple effect.... one act of kindness can cause someone else to do something nice for someone then it just ripples out from there, kinda like that insurance commercial.

Kinda reminding people that the true reason for the season isn't the money we spend.... which most of the time is too much, or if we have little of it, we worry about how we are going to have a holiday. With unemployment at 9.5 % (or is that just my area??) You have to wonder how many people are finding themselves in the holiday spirit.

We have always had the random acts of kindness attitude in this house. Yea most of us work with the public... we know how people can get! But then people can be having a bad day for whatever reason. You never know what they are going threw. Like the fact I said earlier, they could be losing their home, a loved one or job! So yea they can be kinda cranky.... Oh ok the restaurant manger in me is out today... So how about trying not to take it personally and do something nice for someone. It can be a easy as opening that door or holding that door. Saying I'm sorry if you are in someones way...... You know how that feels when you are in a rush and someone is taking up half the lane with a cart and looking at something... LOL so if the person says "OMG I'm sorry!" and moves the cart, we say "oh that's ok" ....... Right? Cause that is all we want is some respect and kindness.... So why not ask "Need some help?" if they are looking at the top shelf or if it is something heavy.... You know that the favorite thing for our cart guys is? They love to help our customers load their cars! Not too many places do that anymore.... and they are told thank-you! Yep 95% of the time they hear a heart felt thank-you so it is their favorite part of their job! So remember that if you are a object of a random act of kindness. LOL cause your thank-you it self is a act of kindness.... funny thing I think we forgot that in this season of rushing here and there trying to find the perfect gift............ You can hear some nasty stuff when it get really busy and people have to wait... So try to cut that cashier some slack, she/he has been cussed at and yelled at for things they can't control.... A smile is free.....

Have a beautiful day my beautiful readers!!

Lake Effect Snow

2010-12-06T20:17:00.001-05:00

the patio table

If you live by the Great Lakes you know lake effect snow. It's been snowing for about 3 days now.... Saturday Night I had a drive home. It normally takes me around 15 minutes at night to get home. Saturday night it was about 45 minutes. I was going around 40 MPH on the expressway. I really am glad many people in this area have 4 wheel drive but really if it so GREAT why does one feel the need to ride the "slower person back end?" Go around people... Yea you have those types and then you have the very slow types that for all we know might have bad tires, fussy kid or new driver... whatever reason they are going slow they don't need the ride their back-ends and honk at them drivers!! I felt sorry for one driver she looked so young and freaked out.... I slowed down and let her "follow me" because the highway was a blanket of white... geesh there where a few times I wondered was I still in the middle lane??? Oh well it was just us and we had a person at a nice distance behind her!! So today I had off I stayed in the house, well, I had to retrieve my trash container and that all..

trees in my backyard

The mailman brought me some of my Cyber Monday deals today... I got some reusable grocery bags from the Breast Cancer Awareness Site Store!! I am using them for wrapping!!

I started my candy cooking for gifts- forgetting that the humidity can effect that... I have some too soft hard candy... humm maybe I can have a taffy pull later??? But the brittle turned out great.... Ok so I cheated I used a microwave recipe....

I know that many people in upstate New York have over a foot of snow and many people in the South are experiencing wind chill factors of 8 degrees when they are used to 50 to 60 degree weather right now. The nay sayers the people that like to tease me that Global warming is hoax love to say hwat do I say to that? That Georgia is having a wind chill factors... I say that Global warming is the wrong term that it should be Global weather mess, cause that what is happening.... They tell me that weather goes in cycles... I say OK then why are we breaking weather records for both warm and cold and most are record breaking from the 70's nothing before that??? If it is in cycles should the cycle be bigger than 30 years??
Ahhh they still don't get it, but I know that the biggest factor for me is the pollution

Starting a new Tradition

2010-11-23T21:51:00.001-05:00

Well it's going to be a Thanksgiving one that isn't at my house!!! OMG it been a lllllllllloooooooooonnnnngggggg time that I haven't had to do most of the cooking!! This year it will be done by Gpa and the college right here in town nephew. My brother and his wife are coming up. Miss Animal Rights and Tech are coming too...

I have purchased some plastic containers for the left over food.... ( I know I was going to cut down but thought that the plastic will be easily to pack to travel.) My nephew, I, Miss Animal Rights and Tech have a half a hour drive. My brother on the other hand has a 3 hour drive home..... So plastic Non BPA plastic won... They will hopefully be reused Well I know that we will reuse them...... Kinda like a early present to help them take home some extras!!

Now the bad part I work tomorrow and will be picking up some things after work.... yea I get to stand in line.....
My list:
Pumpkin pie
Hawaiian rolls
Apple cider
that set thing for the kid's new place....

So I want to tell you all
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Cleaning with hydrogen peroxide

2010-11-05T13:52:00.001-04:00

You know you see the ads with claims of health from just one item....... well I saw a ad for hydrogen peroxide and had to research this myself. What wonderful things can hydrogen peroxide do that I don't know about.

I know you use to to remove blood from clothes... having a child that gets a bloody nose very easily I have a BIG bottle in the laundry area!! I was told that it breaks down the cells of blood, as to remove the blood...

To use it to spray on your bamboo cutting boards (ok any cutting boards)... to disinfect.
For sore throats use as a gargle.

But to cure things like cancers, common colds, arthritis and more.... Plus fertilize your garden and kill weeds... Sorry I don't buy it!! and didn't find any where to back this claim... so sorry the closest thing is that colds can be contained by cleaning with hydrogen peroxide but not cured by putting some in your ear before the flu and cold season. That you do to help remove water from your ear. And if it works for you great but it is not been proven..

I learn that many of the oxygen type laundry boosters are made with hydrogen peroxide! So you can use it in your laundry to help whiten but it can also help bleach your clothes....

Where if you do have some sore in your mouth like a canker sore it can be used to help heal that but not used as a preventive measure because it can wear down the teeth enamel. But haven't found anything about yea or nay with brushing with baking soda and peroxide...... Soaking toothbrush in peroxide may work but you don't have to soak for too long. If it kills e-coli from surfaces why not some funky nasty bug from your brush???

But the most important thing I learn is that the reason that the peroxide is in a brown bottle is that light will destroy it's effectiveness. SO yes cleaning your fruit and veggies, counter tops, cutting boards, bath room surfaces and water damage mold is proven effective only when you have fresh hydrogen peroxide water mix: using a 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and filtered water. So keep that little spray bottle by your kitchen sink. When you wash your fruits and vegetables, you can give a spray of the peroxide before washing. Spray the cutting board after. Spray then wipe down the counter. BUT don't plan on keeping any that you didn't use... it does help with water mold... pour that stuff down the drain....

You can clean your house just remember that it is also a bleach to watch colored fabrics....

Then after you clean the bathroom with your peroxide you can highlight your hair by spray your 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and water solution threw your hair........

AH frightening!!

2010-10-30T14:14:00.000-04:00

I have had this poke plant that wants to keep growing by my front window. Now I have people telling me OMG you don't want a poke plant to grow in your yard gasp the berries are poisonous. Yes this I know and I tell the kids not to eat the berries it will make them poop with a bad hurting belly ache and then they can't play outside. Guess what they listen or if they don't I take them inside.........

SO I thought I try to fix this crazy plant from keep coming back I dug around this root thinking I could easily pull the root out..... so yea that is the root, plus a couple of the roots from stocks growing near it...

I accidentally busted the huge on off while digging all around it...

I googled and found out that roundup will kill it... yea I don't do roundup.... poison in the soil to kill everything...

Then I found a site where it was a forum and someone posted why kill it? It is beautiful. It has purple stems! It doesn't grow to large.
It has beautiful berries that feed many wild animals including birds, that is how you got the plant in the first place....

I have been trying to get my grape vine that has been killing my shrubs in the back yard to line the fence in the front yard but nope it wants to keep choking my shrubs...
I guess I wouldn't worry about the poke plant. I have heard that yea I will be see it come back next year (seeing how I still have a real huge root system!!). You know it does shade that front window the wondow I put my air conditioner in....SO My little feather friends can have a snack on me.....

Too much Candy!!

2010-10-29T13:58:00.019-04:00

So trick or treat week-end is coming up! Oh the candy....The candy.... Oh we used to have candy until Christmas. I would throw it away and replace it with the Christmas candy. Then we throw that away and replace it with Easter Candy.... Well if I only had something like Halloween Candy Buyback!

So if you got way to much candy; why not let a dentist buy it back??

. Check out the Halloween Candy Buyback site. Where you can search for a dentist in your area that will give you around a dollar a pound for your candy. Wait they do something good with it. They send the candy to Operation Gratitude , who sends it to our soldiers. Win win. You get rid of candy you have too much of, the kids get some pocket money and our soldiers get some candy and a lift in spirits!

Yea the older kids might not like the fact it is only a dollar a pound but hey that one more dollar they didn't have before.. Plus a great way to get rid of the candy that you don't like of course after you bargained with your friends... ( and the candy mom and or dad needed to inspect closer...)

There is a switch

2010-10-27T00:28:00.001-04:00

On our ceiling fans there are switches that switch the directions of the blades. I believe it is clockwise for summer and counter clockwise for winter. But of course we switched the blades to do the other direction the other night when it got down into the 40's.... sigh today it was in the 70's..... Guess it is lucky that we just have to switch this switch on the fan to change the blade direction, not turn the blades or anything major like that...

Ways to help keep your home warm in the cold weather and cool in the warm weather...........

PS....
Miss Animals right learned the hard way to clean your blades first... cough cough, dust bunnies aren't something she likes to save...... That and it doesn't help with her mom standing there laughing and saying dust bunnies be free... Be free........

Pink for what?

2010-10-25T00:21:00.000-04:00

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month seems like many items are turning pick. We have chips, cake mixes, make-up, cleaners, toilet paper, sponges, paper towels, and more with the famous pink ribbon on it. Of course we have more personal thing with the pink ribbon too, we have t-shirt, sweatshirts, aprons, blankets, coffee cups, thermos bottles, water bottles and stickers.

I have no problem with the pink ribbon per say... just that some of the things that sport that beautiful pink ribbon are full of Chemicals that are know to help cause breast cancer. They are called endocrine disruptors because they mimic estrogen in the body. Plus the chemicals that disrupt hormones... So we have heard the reports of the birth control pill and breast cancer, however they do only raise your chances a small percent.

Studies also have shown that Obesity can play a big part in breast cancer also. Fat cells increased estrogen secretion.

So when I see pink ribbon chips, cookies, cakes, mints, candy and muffin mix....... I have to shake my head.

I get it why this works......... we love to get something for nothing. We buy some chips that have the pink ribbon, some of our money goes to help fight breast cancer... we get something we want and we get to help fight a horrible disease. It a win win deal!!

We get to fight like a girl.... save the tatas ..... save second base ....... Pray for a cure...

So I leave the food, as I am trying to make more from scratch. Ok once in a while I get a pink ribbon candy item or corn chips....
And I buy the pink ribbon reusable things for Miss Animal Rights who want to do her kitchen in all pink ribbon stuff ....... Yes she has those pink ribbon sponges!!

Ah it's fall......

2010-10-17T22:21:00.001-04:00

My crazy cat loves to be out in our Florida room. In the summer many times we leave the back door open so the animals can go out to the Florida room. Well Miss ambassador kitty loves that back room.... she will go out there sleep on the window sill. I had a piece of wood across the corner where she loves to sleep. Well the sad part is that now when we let the dog out, she will run out there to jump up in the window. It's all good when it's nice outside but when it is chilly we close that back door, leaving Miss ambassador kitty out there. She most times sleeps and it seems like at 3 AM in the morning when it is all cold she is heard meowing her little heart out for someone to open the door.. Plus I am not in the I want kitty love at this time of night.... And she want to love me up for rescuing her from the cold back room. Now we do look back there to make sure she isn't back there but the girl scoots back there when we open the door. Some times she hides!! LOL We have to look under the wicker seats out there..... But sometimes she hides too well.....

My bedroom is right next to the Florida room... I hear her before anyone else.........

Oh well it is fall....... warm days and cool nights. My kitty meowing her head off at 3AM..............
And me trying to not get clawed up from 2 cats fighting over my attention after crawling back to bed......

Standing on a Street Corner

2010-10-11T12:28:00.001-04:00

So yesterday I had the day off and was driving to the store. And yes I live in a city not a huge city but big. I saw the craziest thing standing on the street corner! I saw 2 football players and 3 cheerleaders. Wait they were not walking home from practice or waiting for the bus. That what I thought when I first pulled up to the light.... Because they walked up to the cars in front of me with their helmets out and the girls where cheering....... They were begging for money..... I thought WTF.... there is store right there they can stand outside there...Which is a very big thing in this area, groups outside the doors of a store. .. But they were on the other side of the street also....Right in front of Dairy Queen...... I thought how scary and dangerous this could be.... The other side did have an adult but mine side didn't... I guess I am the worrying parent...

OK I have real problem with the schools having to SELL candy and magazines and that cheap expensive crap that they have those little catalogs to help the school. I mean really our kids having to sell stuff just for the school. I think that the schools shouldn't have to do this. Dang they are in charge of our children! Their futures and OMG standing on a street corner or door to door should not be something they should do!!!!!!!!!! Arg....

I understand that the ways some schools are cutting back are in the "extras" like sports and other elective programs. I know that it isn't easy making ends met and it getting harder and harder but pan handing on a busy street??? It was at the area we call 5 corners, where 5 streets come together......

Maybe I am thinking to much or worry to much but this whole thing bothers me......
Would you let your kid stand on a busy street corner to ask for money for his/her sport?