Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!
I hope everybody is having a really great Halloween this year!
I had a fabulous time! I bought my kiddies the great costumes and they looked so adorable! My oldest was an Evil Warlock and DH did his makeup for him - he looked amazing! My youngest was John Cena and had the costume down perfect! His shirt was so great! I'm glad I got it!! And right at the last minute, I found a costume that matched Wennie's!! LOL Isn't that crazy?!? But it's true! She's been a witch for three years in a row now and her costume is really cute. It has a little skirt and it's black and green with some bright orange ribbon. I found a costume set that had little black bands to go around my wrists and neck and a mask that was green outlined in black and had a hat (faux front lol) that was black and orange striped! I can't believe how much it looked like Wennie's!! I'll post pix when I get them up!
It was such a great night and the kids came home loaded down with candy! Very happy boys indeed! Hope everyone else had as good a time as I & my family!!
Now for my favorite part of Halloween - settling down to watch The Adams Family marathon!! Love Love Love that old show!! It's where Wennie got her name - she's named after Wednesday LOL (because when we got her, she had the saddest little face. It was 'full of woe').
Well Goodnight everyone and Happy Halloween!!

Why Do I Clean Green? Part 3: So Now What?

So basically I've been telling you all about commercial cleaning product and how they are bad bad bad . . . and you're probably thinking, "OK so now what do I do?"
Well, you Clean Green of course!
I have several recipes for Green Cleaning products - all of which I use and all of which clean really great. They also smell heavenly due to individual Essential Oils I add - a few drops makes such a difference! I am so in love with the All-purpose Cleaner I use for my kitchen! It's amazing! I will spray it and wipe down all the counters every time I walk in the kitchen and see a drop of water on the counter - just so I can smell it! LOL
Here's what I have:

• All-Purpose Cleaner for the Kitchen 
• All-Purpose Cleaner for the Bathroom
• Glass Cleaner
• Furniture Polish
• Floor Cleaner
• Mold & Mildew Remover
• Large Tub of Cleaning Wipes
• Small Tub of Cleaning Wipes

Sound like a lot?
Well it is! LOL And it's not! Really all of this is just about the same basic recipe. I use Borax in one or two of the cleaners, along with vinegar and water, and just vinegar and water in others. Also I use different Essential Oils in the cleaner, or a mixture of different EOs. The kitchen one is my favorite because I use Lavender in it. It has the most wonderful smell and has the most calming effect on me - I've never been so happy to clean! Just about everything in my list consists of vinegar and water except the Furniture Polish, which is Olive Oil and Vinegar with a few drops of Lemon EO. Works great! I use it about twice a week, sometimes three times a week if I have the windows open a lot.
Mostly I use separate spray bottles because I make everything in one night and it's important to have all cleaning bottles labeled - Kitchen Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner, etc. It's also convenient to have a bottle or tub of wipes where ever I am cleaning, right at my fingertips. Much easier! And they last and last! Here I've told you how often I use mine . . . and let me just say, I spray and spray and spray ;-)
I have a Clean Green blog entry already with all the recipes, so I won't put them down here again, but I will be making a Recipe Gadget very soon, where they can all be found with a click! If you start using these, or cleaners such as these, you will find Homemade Cleaning Products are Healthier, Greener, and Cheaper too! Make the switch - you won't be sorry!

Why Do I Clean Green? Part 2: Ever Read Your Products Warning Labels?

I read an article recently about Warning Labels on Cleaning products.
Look at your favorite cleaning product.
See words like Warning Caution or Danger? That's not good. Here's something I recently read on some labels for cleaning products:

CAUTION	An ounce to a pint may be fatal or harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin by an adult 180-pound man.
WARNING	A teaspoon to an ounce may be fatal or harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin by an adult 180-pound man.
DANGER	A taste to a teaspoon is fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin by an adult 180-pound man.

Definitely not good. If absorbed through the skin? By an adult 180-pound man? What?!?!
Now I'll take a little peek at the labels to the cleaning products I loved to use before I started Green Cleaning:

COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURE.

KEEP AWAY FROM HEAT OR FLAME.

DO NOT INGEST.

AVOID CONTACT WITH EYES AND PROLONGED CONTACT WITH SKIN.

USE IN WELL-VENTED AREA.

 OK this was a cleaner I would use to clean just about everything in my house! Sound safe? Not really. Let's try another one:

WARNING: SKIN AND EYE IRRITANT. Vapors may irritate. Harmful if swallowed. Do not get in eyes or on clothing. For sensitive skin or prolonged use, wear gloves. Avoid prolong breathing of vapors. Use only in well-ventilated areas.

Um, how ventilated is your bathroom? Your kitchen? How do you avoid prolonged breathing of something you are spraying in a house in which you live? How do you know how sensitive your skin is until you get chemicals all over it and develop a reaction? Or your children? What happens when your kids set their toothbrushes down on the counter right after you've cleaned it? Or to be honest, hours after you've cleaned it?
One thing I know is that whenever I used chemical cleaners, my youngest son could always tell by how his skin felt - no matter how much I rinsed. He could just feel when I had cleaned the bathtub that day. Not good.
Now we'll take a look at the warning labels on my new cleaner:

Oh, wait! Vinegar doesn't have any warning labels!
Hmm . . . . neither does Baking Soda.
Now Borax does state:

If (it gets) in eyes: Rinse with water.

If ingested: drink large glass of water or milk.

Sound too bad? Not really, considering the previous list. However if I were totally honest and were going to be absolutely, positively safe, I would not clean my baby's highchair with it - I would instead use my Cleaning Wipes, made simply with water and vinegar.
All the fuss over weight and knowing what's in our food really got people to start looking at their labels. Do it with cleaning too. There are so many alternatives to buying something off the shelf and using it in your home. Keeping everyone safe in the number one priority of a Mama, right? So look at your labels!

Why Do I Clean Green? Part 1: Toxins in Your Air

Today I got a message from a friend asking me Why I make my own cleaners. . . . Looking back I guess I kinda realized that I was so excited about using them, I may have glossed over the motives for my using Homemade Green Cleaning Products. LOL I was just so darn excited! And trying to get the recipes out there for anyone interested in making the switch as well!
It's quite easy for me to just say "Commercial Cleaners are bad. Homemade Cleaners are good." LOL Not quite enough info, right? So I got to trolling (ahem, researching) and found some things that help to give my decisions some logical foundation.
Commercial cleaners are loaded with toxins. When you spray the cleaner, these toxins are released into the air. Then you breathe them in. Not Good. If you have breathing problems already, this will make it worse. If you don't have trouble, trouble could very well be right around the corner. My hubby has problems with his lungs due to years of working with granite and tile, not to mention after Hurricane Katrina, living in a **gasp** FEMA trailer. Yikes! It occurred to me that all my obsessive cleaning is not helping with that. So I began to look into Green Cleaning products. WOW are those expensive! Definitely not in my Frugal Mommy budget! Then I came across a message on a board about someone's homemade all-purpose cleaner . . . And here I am! Greener. Cleaner. Healthier. Happier. And with a little extra money to boot!
This may help you see what I mean:

A study published online yesterday in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review says that 25 best-selling cleaning and personal-hygiene products emit an average of 17 chemicals each. Battelle scientists tested vapors emitted by the samples, which included hand sanitizers, deodorants and dish detergents.

The researchers found 133 individual chemicals. Of those, nearly 25 percent are classified as toxic or hazardous under at least one federal law, according to the study.

"These are chemicals that can damage the brain, the lungs, the central nervous system and cause cancer," said Anne Steinemann, a   professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington and the study's lead author.
"And some of these chemicals have no safe exposure level. This means that not even one molecule is risk-free."

 This is from the Columbus Dispatch, an article titled Beware Toxins in Products, Study Warns. This alone is a pretty good reason. But

Since 1950, at least 70,000 new chemical compounds have been invented and dispersed into our environment. Only a fraction of these have been tested for human toxicity. We are, by default, conducting a massive clinical toxicology trial, and our children and their children are the experimental animals.

[Source: Herbert L. Needleman, M.D., Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., Raising Children Toxic Free]

150 chemicals found in the home are connected to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological disorders.

[Source: Consumer Protection Agency (CPA)]

The average home today contains 62 toxic chemicals - more than a chemistry lab at the turn of the century. More than 72,000 synthetic chemicals have been produced since WW II. Less than 2% of synthetic chemicals have been tested for toxicity, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, or birth defects. The majority of chemicals have never been tested for long-term effects.   http://www.karinya.com/toxins.htm

WOW, right? Pretty staggering.
Now we've talked about plastic bottles already, but I must point out that each time you buy a commercial cleaning product from the store, you are purchasing a plastic bottle - even when you are buying a refill, which I know they say cuts down on plastic waste, but really? Does buying a great big plastic bottle make you feel like you're cutting down on plastic waste? Guess what happens to the bottle when you throw it in the trash? Yep. It sits in a landfill for the next 450 years!

A Green Halloween

So I got this idea from a message board and it got me to thinking . . . . Who is having a Green Halloween? At first I was thinking "Oh definitely not me! I've been trolling the web for The Perfect Halloween Costumes for my kids." But then it dawned on me as I was writing . . . Well, I'm ordering my youngest son's costume online, but it's a T-shirt - Ahem - excuse me, an Official WWE John Cena Cenation T-Shirt! So it will get worn. Probably over and over again until my baby grows out of it! That's Green, right? It also dawns on me that I had to find a pair of baggy, long denim shorts to go with the outfit. And I did! So (1) recycled shorts, (2) a shirt that will be worn over again . . . OH! and (3) and pair of Dog Tags that he got with a pair of DC's. That's pretty Green!
Now my Baby Girl Wennie will be wearing the same costume for the third year in a row - a totally adorable Witch Costume with the cutest little hat (that, OK, she doesn't really like to wear for all that long) and she looks just so darn cute in! Hmm . . . recycled puppy costume! Definitely Green! 
There you go! Green Halloween!
Anyone else? ;-)

Happy Birthday Honey!

So today is my dear sweet loving hubby's birthday!
And of course I couldn't let it go by without posting something memorable here! (but I have to type fast to get it in before midnight . . . 12 minutes from now - ignore all typos!)
I met Dear Hubby in April of 2005 - on my birthday! He came to the church I was attending at the time. He was staying with his brother for a time and I knew his brother and his brother's wife. He sat on the end of their pew ..... right across the aisle from little ole me! *sigh* It was love at first site! The church sang to me and we had cake after the service - a Thursday night service - and while I was sitting on the pew eating my cake, he walked over and told me happy birthday! Then he sat down and just chatted for about 10 minutes or so. *sigh again* It was so sweet! I was a single mom back then and he would help me carry all my "stuff" to my car after every church service - bag, toys, kids, whatever I needed help with! He was so sweet to me!
I'll never forget those beginning days of our romance! I'm so very happy to have him in my life! And I'm so happy that he is my husband now! We have a wonderful baby together (Wennie! hehe) and my love for him grows more every day!

Happy Birthday Honey! I Love You!  

Reusable Shopping Bags

I love Reusable shopping bags!
I've lost count of how many I have! LOL I went through a time where I bought one every time I went to the store, because I would forget them at home .... or in my car .... or not even know where I had placed them. So now I keep them all together - at least 3 in my purse at all times! Whenever I stop at the store I just pull them out at the register ... No thanks. I really don't want your cheap plastic bag that only holds 2 to 3 items at a time, all of which will more likely than not fall out a hole in the bottom of said bag while I am walking up the steps to my front door, dropping my milk and breaking half my eggs. Then of course since it has a hole in it there's no way I can reuse it as a liner to my trash cans in the bedroom or bathroom, so it will get thrown away and sit in a landfill for the next 500 years or so ....
And why oh why do they only put 2 to 3 items in each bag?
Probably because they know that's all it can hold. So you end up walking out the store with like 80 bags.
OK now hand the cashier your reusable shopping bag . . . . and watch her fill that baby up! They can get so much in those cloth bags! I can walk out the store with one bag over my shoulder and one in my hand and even leave the buggy :-) It's so much nicer and I feel great walking out the store with my cloth bags!
They don't cost very much, about $.50 a piece for a regular (but still cute one) at any store and maybe $2.00 to $2.50 for a nicer one, with the bottom cardboard in it - I have a Tinkerbell one like that and my kids each have a Birthday Mickey Mouse one :-) I love them. They make great gift bags and are the same price as a large paper gift bag!
So if you don't have any, get one - even if you only use it for those quick run-ins into the drugstore or dollar store. See how much you like it and how convenient they turn out to be! It's mostly just getting use to using them and bringing them. When you really get into it, carry all of then folded up inside one of the bags. When you're just starting out, or if you don't do a lot of shopping all at once, put 2 or 3 in your purse, folded up nice and neat, and place a rubber band around them.
And when you check out at the store, just hand them over to the cashier and say what I say, " Here you are - I have my own bag." :-)

Check-in ... How I'm Doing So Far

So I've been at this pretty steady, adding Green here and there as much as I can to my daily life. Here's the part where I step back and look at what I've done.
After having a fabulous weekend, I got up this morning and cleaned the house: Bathroom, Kitchen, Living, Dining. Wiped down all surfaces, polished furniture, cleaned glass, cleaned floors. How am I doing? The house smells beautiful! Looks beautiful! And is clean as a whistle! Hubby commented on it the other day, saying it's so great when he smells my new Homemade cleaners! He said at first he wasn't really sure about it, but everything looks so clean! And he just loves the smell so much! He couldn't be happier!
Yesterday we spent most of the day outside and he enjoyed watching me out there, working on my compost, which is coming along great, by the way! I'm starting to see a difference in just leaves and kitchen scraps to the turning towards what will one day be rich, dark soil. I love going out there in my boots with my rake and water hose, turning and soaking, to get just the right amount flipped, knowing that this will be the major contributor to healthy, green veggies!
I'm looking into making more Homemade and healthy Green dinners next. We love veggies here, at least I do LOL Hubby is just starting to like them! But he has gone from liking one or two yellow vegetables, to now liking several green veggies ... Lima Beans, Broccoli, and Asparagus to name a few. Last night after supper, Swedish Meatballs and buttered Asparagus Tips, I found him in the kitchen with a spoon, eating all of the leftover Asparagus out of the casserole dish! It was a sight to set my heart a flutter I was so happy!
I try harder to buy items with less packaging, less plastic, and always use my Reusable shopping bags - I keep at least 3 in my purse at all times! That way I'm never without.
So how am I doing so far?
Pretty good, I'd say. Greener everyday! :-)

Green Cleaning Wipes

Who loves Cleaning Wipes? I do! I do! I do! It's so great to grab a container, pop open the top and pull a wipe out . . . clean up!
Simple. Easy. Convenient.
I'm trying to be Green. We have a problem. Lysol wipes are not Green. But I love them. They make life so easy! And clean!!
I'm sad now.
But wait! My dear friend Marmee, who is always there in my time of need, has the answer ... Green Cleaning Wipes!  You can use the same container - or a baby wipes container, and a roll of Bounty paper towels (baby steps here). Cut the roll to the correct size. If you are using the lysol container, you will have to unroll the paper towels and re-roll them without the cardboard middle. The roll will fit perfectly inside the container. If you are using the baby wipes container, you flip-flop the paper towels back and forth to lay inside the container. Add water, 1/4 cup Vinegar, and 5 drops Lemon Essential Oil. Pour over Wipes. Close the lid, pull the top one up through the slit and there you go!! The greatest part of this is, I have a small container as well and the other part of the paper towels, the side that I cut off, fits perfectly inside that one! Now I have wipes for the kitchen and the bathroom too! This is great because after teeth-brushing-time I can just pull out a wipe and swipe the sink clean quickly without having to get toothpaste all over the cleaning rag!
I am happy!
Here's my newest joy:

More Green Cleaning Recipes

OK So today I did some serious cleaning! I made all of my new cleaners last night, got plenty of sleep, had a yummy cup of coffee - with homemade creamer, of course ;-) - put on my favorite movie for background noise - Julie & Julia, of course ;-) - and got busy cleaning! I have officially tried out all my cleaning products and can, with a clear conscience announce

"I LOVE THEM!!!" 

They each work beautifully! 

Here's my list so far:

1. I have a Kitchen All-Purpose Cleaner that I've been using this past week. It smells like a lovely Lavender meadow and makes all my counters shine! 
2. I have a Bathroom All-Purpose Cleaner that I used this morning for the first time! It was great! My bathroom is clean and shiny and smells fresh! The only thing I would do different is add Eucalyptus oil to my mixture - the recipe calls for it, but I don't have it yet, so I just omitted that one ingredient. 
3. I have a Furniture Polish I tried out today . . . Yep, you heard me right! I made my own furniture polish! It's got an olive oil base and shined everything up beautifully! With a nice fresh scent! 
4. I have a Floor-Cleaner and cleaned all my floors today - kitchen & bathroom tile, living room and dining room laminate wood. This is something I can sit back and look at all day long and see what a good job the cleaner did! Now I don't have a mop I like, so right now I'm filling up a bucket with water and cleaner and getting down on all fours with a rag to scrub the floor - not real fun, but it's clean :-) 
5. Last, but not least is my glass cleaner - it's like Windex and this is the one that really surprised me! I sprayed it on my bathroom mirror, not expecting a lot, and wiped it with my lint-free rag . . . and when it dried, it dried with no streaks! The mirror was perfectly flawless! And beautiful! **deep sigh of happiness**

All-Purpose Kitchen Cleaner

• 2 teaspoons Borax
• 1/2 cup Vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups water
•  15 drops Lavender EO
• 15 drops Lemon EO

Boil water. Pour into glass measuring bowl.

Mix in Borax.

Mix in Vinegar.
Let Cool.
Pour into spray bottle.
Add oils.
Shake well before each use to mix ingredients.

 

All-Purpose Bathroom Cleaner

• 2 teaspoons Borax
• 3 1/2 cups Boiled Water
• 1 teaspoon Dish Soap
• 4 Tablespoons Vinegar
•   15 drops Lavender EO
• 10 drops Eucalyptus EO
• 5 drops Tea Tree EO

Mix Borax and water.

Allow to cool.

Pour into spray bottle.

Add remaining ingredients.  

Furniture Polish

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Vinegar
• 5 drops Lemon EO

Combine ingredients in a small glass jar. (I used a Zatarain's seasoning jar, but a baby food jar or anything like this will do)

Cut a small slit in the lid.

**Very Important! 

This must be shaken vigorously before and during use to be sure that ingredients do not separate. 

Shake Shake Shake, Turn upside down on your rag;  

Shake Shake Shake, Then rub the rag on the furniture.

Floor Cleaner

• Sink/Bucket of water
• 1/4 cup Vinegar
• 15 drops EO 

This one pretty much explains itself :-)

Glass Cleaner

• 2/3 cup Vinegar
• 1 1/3 cup Water
• 5 drops EO

Boil water. 

Pour into glass measuring cup.

Add Vinegar and stir.

Let cool.

Pour into spray bottle.

Add oils. (I used lemon for this one, just because it has a nice scent, like a cleaner, but use what you like. Same with the floor cleaner - use whatever you have and whatever you'd like your house to smell like.)

Now as you can see these are very simple recipes with very simple ingredients and directions. But I have never been happier! They really do work fantastic and I am truly in love with the way they smell! I've read that the scent of Lavender relaxes you - maybe that's what's going on LOL I'm just so relaxed all the time! But I do like the way everything here cleans and it's all natural ingredients, so they're safe. 

***I'd like to add a very big Thank You to Sarah, an online friend, whom I got these recipes from. If I hadn't seen her posting them, I never would have thought twice about Green-Cleaning! Thanks so much Sarah! You've made me a very happy lady indeed!

Clean Green

One of my biggest OCD needs is to have a good cleaner! I have to have a good-smelling, great-cleaning, well-working cleaner on hand daily! I love to clean!! I love the way the counters look when they are clean and shiny. I hate the way TVs and glass doors look covered in fingerprints! If we are watching a movie or a TV program at night and I can see finger/hand prints on the screen, I will get up, grab the bottle of cleaner and a paper towel and clean the TV during the show! I just have to get it clean!!!!
So this was a big thing for me when I decided to go Green.
Would I buy those outrageously expensive "green" household cleaners?
Would I clean the whole house with vinegar? and somehow get over the smell?
Would I just go on cleaning with my regular chemical-based cleaners and turn my head when I clean?
And then I read a recipe on a web site . . . . for cleaning products!
WOW! I can do that?
After a lot of research and a lot of back-and-forth questions to friends who Green-Clean, I found that Homemade All-Natural Cleaners work well, are inexpensive, are safe for your family and pets (yay Wennie!) and can smell as nice as you'd like them to! I'm in heaven right now!!
The main ingredient I had trouble with was Essential Oils - because they have to be pure. And you cannot find them in Wally World!
Please! Why can't everything in the world just be found there?!? LOL
But I found a great web site that had them for very cheap and for the first time in years, I bought something online. I got 3 bottles of EOs for less than $20, including shipping! And to make me really smile, they send a free gift as well! WOOHOO!! A friend online even tells me they always send a free gift! Loving this!!
The EOs are what makes the cleaners smell good, but they also have antibacterial and antiviral  properties, depending on which ones you buy. Another great thing about this company is that they mailed my order out so fast! I think I ordered on Tuesday evening - after 5 - and the oils came in Friday morning's mail! Now that's fast work.
By Friday afternoon, I was mixing my first batch of Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner! I was so happy with that very first spray! And it smelled. So. Good. **deep sigh of pure happiness**
OK, here is the first recipe I used:

All-Purpose Cleaner

• 2 teaspoons Borax
• 1/2 cup Vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 30 drops Essential Oil (15 Lavender, 15 Lemon) 

Boil water. Pour into glass measuring bowl.
Mix in Borax.
Mix in Vinegar.
Let Cool.
Pour into spray bottle.
Add oils.
Shake well before each use to mix ingredients.

**I played around with the oils a little here and there, but this is what was best for me, i.e. when I could smell the oils better than the vinegar :-)
**I bought a pack of cloth rags to clean with - the kind you find in the automotive section of Walmart and the Dollar Store. They are lint-free, soft as a cloud, and come in pretty colors! Perfect for this type of cleaning.

From the first time I used this I was happy! It smells so good! It smells clean and fresh and when you know it's safe and Green, it's just that much better! It gives me a fantastic feeling every time I use it! I find excuses to use it during the day! LOL I just love it so much!!
I'll post more recipes later, so be on the look-out! I made more cleaners today and want to try them out good before I post them here, but you'll know when I give them my stamp of approval!

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I love coffee!! It's so yummy and delicious! It looks good. It smells good. And with the right creamer, it tastes good! LOL Now my loving hubby and I have got coffee down to an art in our house! People come to our house who have never liked drinking coffee and love it here! It's a perfect combination of just the right amount of coffee grounds - measured out, the right amount of water, Splenda (has a different taste than sugar and now I hate sugar! lol), and liquid creamer!!!
Now I like to change it up - French Vanilla, Pumpkin Spice, Mocha Latte, ... whatever I have a yen for when I go shopping. But It. Is. So. Expensive! Really! And now I've got it so that I don't really like to drink it without the creamer, so if we're out, I have to do without coffee altogether. And that makes this gal a very cranky lady!! Not fun to be around!!
One of the really fabulous things about being Green is ... it's cheap! LOL It's a great incentive! I love saving money and seeing as how I don't have much, all the more saved is a good thing. So I see this article online about Homemade coffee creamer. One of the things it mentioned was that a coffee-drinker's favorite, Pumpkin Spice, is only available during the Fall. And I quickly point out that it usually only comes in the small bottles, which are expensive. And really, I can go through one of those in less than a week if I drink coffee more than once a day - like afternoon coffee. So the writer points us toward a few web sites where you can make your own creamer! And it tastes just as good as the stuff you buy in the stores. And it's way cheaper!! Yay!
Last Friday night I bought all I needed to make my beloved Pumpkin Spice and it was so yummy! I think the fact that I made it myself and that I knew it was cheaper really made it taste just a little bit better, but seriously it was good! And hubby liked it too! It has lasted me all week and it's been so yummy! And I no longer have to worry about running out or budgeting for "the next few days" so that I have enough to last me until it's grocery time again! I Love It!!
I'll post the link in my list, because there are several variations to get the flavors you want, but here is the main recipe:

Base Recipe for Liquid Coffee Creamer

14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk (fat free, if you prefer)

14 oz. Milk (any kind you like)

Mix together and store in the Fridge, in a glass jar

There you go! 

LOL OK, here's more ;-)

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer

Base Recipe plus:

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice

Strudel

Base Recipe plus:

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Almond Extract

Chocolate Almond

Base Recipe plus:

1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon Almond Extract

Now the Pumpkin Spice is the only one I've made so far, but these are all the recipes I wrote down to put in my recipe box. So I will be making them soon. As a matter of fact I'm going shopping tomorrow and I think I'll make a Chocolate Almond batch next! Yummy! 

It was very simple to fix and took very little time. I stored mine in 2 glass Starbucks latte bottles, but a large Mason jar would do just fine. Also it's good to run the bottom under warm water before you use it, to break up the condensed milk. Give it a good shake ... and enjoy you're wonderful cup of coffee!

An Efficient Kitchen Makes a Difference

So I get this great idea that I'm gonna be more Green! I'm a Green Gal.
So where does everything go when you decide to recycle?
On the kitchen counters of course!
"Where does this can go?" asks my MIL.
"You can just leave it on the counter until I get a place to put it."
"Where do I throw this milk jug out?" asks DH.
"You can put it on the counter until I clean the kitchen."
Notice a pattern?
Yeah, this wasn't working! After one day DH was asking me what were my plans! I couldn't just leave everything lying around until I got around to finding a center to take it to! LOL I'm sure the picture in his head was a house slowly filling up with junk. I would become one of those people on TV that hoard compulsively! Obliviously I had to think of something fast!
So what did I do? I cleaned my kitchen! It sounds funny, but it's true! And separating recyclables is a breeze now - along with anything else in the kitchen!
First off I dug every little thing out of every little corner. I mopped and scrubbed said corners before replacing anything. If you're like me, when I clean something out, I really clean it out!! I pulled out the trash can, scrubbed it out and removed all the boxes stacked next to it (why were they there? well whenever DH cleans, he doesn't know where to put anything, so he stacks it up somewhere out of his way lol) I found things I have been looking for for so long! (another thing that happens when DH cleans up!)
Now I have a nice, clean, orderly pantry. The trash can is no longer over-flowing onto the floor, spilling out the junk from the day. It now only holds those items that cannot be recycled, composted, or reused. I have a large trash can on my porch that holds tin cans. Another trash can next to it that holds recyclable plastic. And a large container as well that holds aluminum cans. Next to my sink, underneath the counter in a 5 gallon white container with a top is the day's compost materials. Anything that can be composted goes into this container - coffee grounds, coffee filter, scraps, vegetable peels, unbleached paper and cardboard - and at the end of the day, when I do dishes, I walk outside and put it on the compost pile. There are no messy plates or bowls of food on the counters. No cans littering the floors. Next to the trash can is a smaller container for aluminum cans. These are many during the day and it's easier to have a place close by to put them. Also by having it next to the trash can, it's easier for someone to throw it in the correct container rather than forgetting and throwing it in the trash!
All of my counters are completely cleared off, save for cookbooks. I've even gotten rid of the dish draining rack! When I'm finished washing the dishes, I dry them, put them away and fold the draining rack and store it under the sink. Beautiful, clear, shiny counters! Plenty of work space for when I get in a mood to pull out Mastering the Art of French Cooking! And seeing my clean kitchen makes it easier to find a place for everything. I cleaned the trash can yesterday morning and put a new bag in it. It's only about 4 inches filled! This is a definite bonus! And less trash means less going into a landfill! That's always a biggie when I decide whether to toss something into the trash ... Now I always ask myself "Can this go somewhere else other than a plastic trash bag that'll rot into a landfill?"

***On a side note, I'd like to add that apparently I'm having a good affect on the people around me. Today my MIL was asked "Paper or Plastic?" She said she thought of me, straightened her shoulders, and said "Paper!"  ;-)

Wennie is Green Too!

Yep! It's about time for a Wennie Post!
I figure I tell all about my newer, greener ways, I should tell about all I'm doing for my family as well! And we'll have a Wennie Post now.
So I was looking online for ways to be greener and came across a web site called The Practical Guide to Healthier Living that had a window I could click on about caring for your pet naturally. I got so excited (as I have a tendency to do) that I could do something for Wennie that would actively make her greener! Yay Wennie!
I am posting a Link on my list for anyone who would like to see this firsthand, but the gist of the story was that A man & his wife got a dog from a PAWS and it had some tummy troubles, so he had to come up with a diet that would be friendly to Puppy's belly and also healthy. Roscoe's Home-Cooked Food was born! It's a delicious and all natural blend of protein and grains your pet will love! As soon as I saw the article, I looked in our kitchen and I had everything I needed, so I said to Wennie, "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" There are certain tag words here that Wennie always recognizes: you, hungry, you, eat. LOL
So I go into the kitchen and begin preparing her new Dog Food. She follows me and sits at the threshold, watching as I cook rice, cook veggies, cut up chicken. She's taking everything in. When it's all cooked, I mix it together in a glass bowl and fix her a helping.
She loves it!!
She eats every bite!
And each time it's time to eat, I pull a container out of the fridge, spoon some into a bowl, warm it up a bit in the microwave and put it at her feeding station. She knows every time I pull that same container out of the fridge, it's got her food in it. And she's so happy, because she realizes that I cooked that food for her.  I know it tastes good (yeah I tasted it!) and it's healthy for her and it's just such a bonus to see her get excited every time I feed it to her! Plus I love that I can go to my kitchen and cook something all-natural for her to eat! Wennie's Green too now!

Roscoe's Home-Cooked Food

1 part Lean Protein - Chicken or Turkey

2 parts Grain - Rice, Oats, Sweet Potatoes

Bag of Veggies - Peas and Carrots

Composting is Hard Work

I decided that a compost pile would be a great way to
(1) Make my very own nutrient-rich soil for growing vegetables
(2) Recycle kitchen scraps (since I throw them out in the yard anyway!)
(3) Eliminate the amount of trash I throw out, therefore eliminating the amount that goes into a landfill
So I've been doing research (my middle name) and I've found so much information! I love the internet! I love that I can come to my computer and find anything I want to know more about within minutes! Well, it was the same with composting. But of course, being me, I figured after I read the list of what you can compost/cannot compost and watched an 8-minute video on the subject on You Tube, I'm good. I know exactly what to do and I'm just going to go outside and do it!
Yeah .... not really that easy.
First of all I ask my FIL where to put the pile, just in case there's anywhere in particular on his property he doesn't want it. He tells me to put it "between those two trees." And tells me that he has already told my husband that when he rakes up the leaves, to rake them up around the bases of these three trees that stand in a row in the back yard. When he points to them and says to put the pile between them, DH thinks he means around the base of this tree and around the base of that tree. Add food and whatnot to the pile of leaves. But that's not really what I got. I got Lay the Pile of Leaves Between Those Two Trees. Hmm??? Wonder who was right?
I ended up going out while DH was taking a nap and first I raked all the leaves into two piles around the bases of two of the trees.
I look at it.
It doesn't quite look right.
So I rake another pile in between the two trees and form a 4 1/2 foot bed there.
Yeah, still doesn't look right.
But I figure this is what I'm suppose to do and I move on to adding the kitchen scraps as well as some cardboard. The video showed me that you can add scraps, cardboard items such as cereal boxes, egg cartons and paper rolls, coffee grounds with the coffee filters and even dryer lint! I add my stash, throw a little water on it and stand back and admire.
Hmm. Still looks a little off.
So I go inside and get back on the computer and get to Google-ing! I look up Where do I place my Compost Pile? And I find that you are not suppose to put a compost pile near trees! Yep. That's way it looked wrong! LOL Apparently if you put it near a tree, the roots will grow up into the compost, looking for nutrients. When you 'turn' your pile - every couple of weeks - you will destroy those roots.
Not Earth-friendly.
So I go back outside and move the compost pile! If you've ever seen a picture of compost, you can imagine how hard this was for me! If you've never seen one before, Google "Compost Pile Images" as soon as you finish this Blog!
So I move the pile. DH gets up from his nap and comes outside to check on me and is very proud of what I've accomplished! He likes to see me working in the yard ;-) He can't believe I am raking without gloves on, so he finds a pair for me to wear and tells me to keep them for when I'm working in the yard from now on. He helps me add pine needles to the layers and he sets up the water hose so that it will now stretch to reach the pile. I give it a sufficient amount of moisture this time, having seen exactly how much I should add on my 2nd trip through Compost-Google. And there it is!! My Compost Pile! 3'x3'x3' of layered green and brown organic matter that in 6 to 12 months will be beautiful, nutrient-rich, all-natural soil.
I am so tired right now, I can't stand up. And my arms are killing me. And I have a blister on my palm. But I FEEL WONDERFUL!! I feel like I really did something active today and I feel Greener right this very minute!
I Love Being Green!

Where Are All of the Recycling Centers?

Today my goal was to get out the old phone book and call around in order to find a Recycling Center in my area - or near my area - that would accept my glass and plastic recyclables. Would you believe I had no luck? Is that something?!? I called every place listed and no one recycles plastic or glass here! Every place I called said that since Hurricane Katrina they no longer (1) accept plastics & glass or (2) recycle at all. The closest one I found was a 45 minute drive from my house! In a direction I never go in! Here I am, trying to do all that I can to RECYCLE and I can't even do that! I would think they'd make it easy for people who really want to help the environment. People who want to make that extra effort to do something active. Already roadblocked! But I will not let this stop me! I'll find a way.
OK, done with my rant.
I did some research on the web today and found out some very interesting facts:

*20 years ago, only 1 roadside recycling program existed in the US

*In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of    material from ending up in landfills and incinerators


*Only 28% of Americans recycle their waste!

*Figures suggest 60% of all household waste can be recycled or composted, but the largest nation in the UK, England, appears to be only recycling 17.7%!


*Germany recycles over 70% of all their waste! (my SIL if from there and she and my BIL are living there again).

Here is how the Germans do it:
 
There are at least five types of rubbish bin in the courtyards of apartment buildings and inside people's houses. Luckily, the bins are colour-coded, to avoid any confusion - a yellow bin for packaging (old milk cartons etc), a blue bin for paper and cardboard, bins for glass (separated into ones for clear, brown and green glass) a "Bio" bin designed for left-over food and plant waste. Finally, there is a black bin for the rest of the rubbish (or for those people who do not bother to sort out their rubbish).

 -BBC News, Recycling Around the World

This is how we need to be! This is the perfect set up. It makes it so easy to recycle and help the environment! And all you have to do is separate it yourself in the color-coded cans! How easy is that? I love the whole concept!
I'm really going to keep going with this! I have been so inspired by reading about how other countries do it. And I know I can find a way to get these recycled. In the meantime, I'm not going to drink out of any more plastic bottles. Tonight I filled a pitcher with water from the tap. That is what I'll drink tomorrow and if I leave to go somewhere, I'll just fill a 'Go' cup with my water from the fridge and take that with me. I feel Greener already! In addition to my water cup, I'm also going to start my own Compost Pile that will eliminate the food portion of my waste. I'm learning that it's not just about recycling, it's about eliminating the overall amount. And every little bit counts ;-)