Abandoned

On a recent hike,at a favorite park, I came across a couple abandoned houses.  I had never been in this part of the park before, so I didn't know they were there just over the fence.

Abandoned houses really bother me.  They are such a waste! I think of all the happy times that the houses must have provided, for these are beach houses, and beach houses are for fun times.

Of course the real reason this bothers me is because I would dearly love to have a house on my favorite beach and these are just sitting there going to waste.  Heavy sigh.

Homemade Cleaner, Follow-up

Today was the day! I made up a spray bottle of one half vinegar/orange solution and filtered water.  I used it to clean the bathrooms and kitchen.  Seems to work well.  The smell was as I expected, mostly vinegar.  I clean with vinegar and am used to it.  It goes away in an hour or so.  I did not smell much orange though.  Otherwise the cleaner worked great.  It even kills ants.  (I am in an ant war at the moment.  Grr.)
Happy cleaning!

Grandpa's Bread, Again

Some here might remember that in January I started making my grandpa's sourdough bread.  I have made it a few times, but decided that I needed to perfect my technique.  Now as it happens, my father is a certified master baker.  I know, kind of handy!  So, this past Saturday, he showed me how to knead dough properly.  I love my stand mixer, but it isn't built to make bread, or at least when I try, it makes a burning smell and overheats!  I suppose you have to get a commercial one to really make good bread.  My next attempt at making this bread will be using whole wheat flour.  I want to see how it does.  Happy baking to you!

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

These days I just can't bring myself to use a can of soup in a recipe that I have gone to the trouble of making sure is real food.  So, I looked around to find a good, fast substitute.

Basically, I found that I can make a white sauce and substitute the milk with chicken stock and I have cream of chicken soup! It also makes a great gravy to put on mashed potatoes.

Melt 4 T butter.  Add 4T of flour.  Mix.  Slowly whisk in 1 cup of chicken stock.  This should thicken.  Now I have soup to add to my favorite recipes.

Homemade Citrus Cleaner

Seems like I was always forgetting to pick up some essential oils when I was at the health food store, so I was really glad to see this recipe on Facebook recently.  Plus the orange oil was free, something I was going to toss in the trash!  (I don't compost during the winter.)

In a quart jar pour some white vinegar over the orange peels of about three oranges.  Let stand for two weeks.  In two weeks, add equal parts water in a spray bottle.  Use to clean all surfaces.  It's antibacterial, too!  I can't wait to give it a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.

"No Poo" On Hold

A couple years ago, I went "no poo, " meaning I stopped using comercial shampoo and conditioner. And, it worked great.  My hair was doing well.  Then recently, I was given lots of free shampoo and conditioner, travel sized from a hotel. The good stuff!  I decided that using the shampoo would be the most frugal option. Baking soda and vinegar are cheap, but free is free. So for now, untill the free stuff runs out, my "no poo" is on hold. I will go back though.  My hair is more oily when I use shampoo.  I feel like I need to wash it more often.  I am thankful for the free stuff, though, too.

Drying Clothes and Tennis Balls

In my efforts to be frugal, I discovered a way to dry clothes without a softener sheet or adding softener to the rinse cycle.  A few years ago, we got a pair of dryer balls.  One of them ended up either lost or ripped, I can't remember. They were just OK, but really didn't help with static in the winter.  They were too light. 

Recently, I had to wash all of our down coats.  The tag said to use tennis balls to dry in the dryer.  I have done this before, no big deal, but this time it occurred to me that I could do this all the time, instead of fabric sheets. So, for the last month, I have been using 3 tennis balls in the dryer.  I also put a dry towel in there as well.

The static is no issue. The clothes are soft.  If I think of it, I sometimes put vinegar in the rinse cycle, but I don't think of it too often.  I'd like to have a dispenser.  Anyway, I thought I would write about this here in case anyone else was thinking of ditching fabric softeners.