homemade cleaner recpie: wood polish

I quit using my usual Plege to polish my tables because I wanted to find a safer alternative. I tried the Method brand of wood cleaner, but it is super expensive. So, I found a recipe off of the website I have previously shared, sideroad.com, and made my own (hint: the blog title is a link, and I am currently making all my blog titles links if there is a website involved ;) It works great!

And it is:
1 cup vegetable oil or olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice

Pour into a spray bottle and shake, shake, shake- It's done!

passionate homemaking blog

This blog is AMAZING. Check it out- thanks Stephanie!
http://www.passionatehomemaking.com

item 'j'

Sooo, I planted my little seedlings this past monday for our garden. If all goes well, we will have tomatos, squash, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, strawberries, red onions and sweet peas.

Item 'j' is on its way to being complete for the "living an intentional 2009" list!

homemade cleaner recipes

http://www.sideroad.com/Budgeting/homemade-cleaners.html

recipes for fabric softener, glass cleaner, dishwasher rinse, furniture polish, wood floor cleaner, all pourpose cleaner and more.

my mama

A few of you are aware that my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer a week before Thanksgiving of 2008. If you didn't know this, FEAR NOT. Thanks to digital mamograms, they have caught it at stage 0 and removed it. She successfully finished her 5 weeks of radiation and is recovering just fine.

Alarming, shocking, and sureal would probably be the right terms to describe how it felt to hear this news. But, thank you, Jesus, it was caught super early and is highly treatable. She got to business and is getting it done. That's my mom.

Now, it's time to work. Regular excise, a wholesome diet, and a change in routine is what lies ahead for my mom, and really, for the rest of our family. It's going to be hard work, but I know she can do this! Please pray for her.

JJ Cole Collections

About a year ago, I bought a JJ Cole diaper bag from Babies "R" Us. I absolutely love this diaper bag. It has a place for EVERYTHING! This past weekend, one of the zippers broke, so I called JJ Cole and asked them about it. They carry a 2 year warranty on all of their products, so I was able to get a new one without any hassle. And they said I could even change the color if I wanted-bonus!

I also used their bundle me cover when Ethan was an infant and LOVED it as well- it's really cozy and convenient.
www.jjcoleusa.com

Tom's of Maine

I have started using a couple of products by Tom's of Maine.


One is the unscented, aluminum free deodorant...and it WORKS!


The other is the natural antiplaque (fluoride free) cinnamint toothpaste (fennel shown in photo). It is also a great product.
I wanted to start using these products because 1) I don't want to keep smearing aluminum in my armpits and 2) we get so much fluoride in our water that there is no need to get more from our toothpaste. Try 'em!

hot chocolate

Stovetop:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups (1 qt.) milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in pot; stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk; stirring constantly, heat to serving temperature. Do Not Boil.

Remove from heat; add vanilla. Beat with rotary beater or whisk until foamy. Serve with marshmallows or whipped cream.

VARIATIONS: Add one of the following with the vanilla extract:
SPICED COCOA: 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Serve with cinnamon stick, if desired.
MINT COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon mint extract OR 3 tablespoons crushed hard peppermint candy OR 2 to 3 tablespoons white creme de menthe. Serve with peppermint candy stick, if desired.
CITRUS COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon orange extract OR 2 to 3 tablespoons orange liqueur.
SWISS MOCHA: 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee.
COCOA AU LAIT: Omit marshmallows or whipped cream. Spoon 2 tablespoons softened vanilla ice cream on top of each cup of cocoa at serving time.
SLIM-TRIM COCOA: Omit sugar. Combine cocoa, salt and water; substitute nonfat milk. Proceed as above. With vanilla, stir in sugar substitute with sweetening equivalence of 1/2 cup sugar.
CANADIAN COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon maple extract.
(from www.hersheys.com)


Dry Mix:
4 cups dry milk
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the ingredients and put them into an airtight container.
(from CDKitchen.com)

dang quesadillas

(Think glorified grilled cheese)

Tortilla wraps
Butter
Salt
Cheddar cheese
Whatever you want to put in them! Diced onions, peppers,.. anything!

Spread butter on one side of tortilla. Salt buttered side. Place on electric griddle butter side down. Sprinkle with cheese and fillin's. Butter one side of another tortilla. Salt buttered side. Place on top of the fillin's with butter side out. Flip when golden brown. Cook other side until golden brown. Cut and dip in salsa and sour cream!

white bean chicken chili

3-4 chicken breasts
4cups chicken broth
2 yellow peppers
1 onion
1 jar of green salsa
1 can green chilies
2 cans of great white northern beans
1 lime-juiced (or 2 tbs lime juice concentrate)
1/4tsp groud cloves
1tbs garlic powder
2tsp cumin
2tsp cayan pepper
1cup chopped tortilla chips
1 bottle of corona
additional tortilla chips
mozarella cheese

Crockpot chicken for 6 hrs on high. Once chicken is cooked (about three hours later), add all other ingredients. Let cook for another 2 or three hours. Serve with tortilla chips and mozzarella cheese! There's dinner for a few nights! yummers!