Home made handsoap part 2

Ok sorry this took so long to get around to.... I got sewing late into the night...errrr morning I guess the same day I start the hand soap adventure. And well it was the weekend and well yeah...life happened.

SO I got up the next morning to see my handy work- pun intended. And WTH? This is not liquid hand soap!

And no it was not that cold in my house. So I have added water... a LOT of water. And I think I finally have a product that would pass as liquid hand soap. Only one small...ok large problem. It made rough a half gallon of soap. Now I am handy and crafty but I only saved two pump bottles for the soap. So I am going to try and get my next gallon container from our milk and wash it out and store the soap in it.

But at least this has been fun, kinda, and cheap for sure. I am figuring each bottle of liquid soap is costing me roughly 15 cents to make, and I am not adding to the land fills so it is lite green. Also I used local honey in it, so that has to help out a local farmer.

So I give my homemade citrus and honey and soap a grated thumb way up!

Homemade handsoap.... part 1

Ok so I am trying to make homemade, green and cheap handsoap. I have a son who thinks it is awesome to use 15 squirts per hand each time he uses tha bathroom. And yes it is fantastic that he does wash his hands each time he uses the bathroom, but..... it is getting expensive!

So I am trying my hand at said handsoap... and I MEAN hand- soap. When I was grating the stupid soap sure enough I grated my knuckles too. So I guess it is not vegetarian or vegan hand soap.... sigh. I will keep you posted as to how it goes and when the bleeding stops.

uh-oh spaghettio's

Ok so this is not really green, or maybe it is. I have 1 son who LOVES and I mean LOVES spaghettios, and my daughter well she just has better taste than him! The sad part is when I was pregnant with Jamie, I craved spaghettios and I dashed out to the store to buy  a can popped it open and gag it tasted like pennies, or a tin can. BLAH.

So I needed an easy fix to get rid of the craving while not gagging. So I tried a few recipes to make homemade spaghettios. Epic Fail! So here I sat...all sick feeling due to being in my first trimester, and starving all at the same time. So my green-ness stepped up and I played around with the base recipe and found not only a preggo woman approved version, but a kid friendly version. And by far cheaper and healthier to boot!

So here it is.... Kelly's ring around the spaghettios

1 can organic condensed tomato soup ( or jarred sauce not hte seasoned kind)
1/2 a can milk Organic of course- and I like skim
1 tsp organic garlic powder
1 tsp organic onion powder
1c shredded mild cheddar cheese
1/3 of the 1 lb box ring noodles cooked in SALTED water.

1. Mix the soup, milk and garlic and onion powder in a pot.
2. Once bubbling add the cheddar cheese and mix until melted.
3. Add cooked noodles, mix and serve.

** I have also tripled the recipe and frozen the extras, and they thaw out beautifully.

So the green factor is you can have a 100% organic kid friendly meal that literally costs less about 50 cents a serving.

So up next is going to be my hand at making homemade handsoap.  Wish me luck!

I'll have a green Christmas

Ok so we have less than 3 weeks until D-day....ok it is not that bad but to a mom who desires to be green it is pretty close.

How in the world does one have a green Christmas? Do you cut a fresh tree since it can be replaced, but it will take years to grow back up. Do you put up a fake one so you can reuse it year after year? But if you go that route eventually it HAS to end up in a landfill.

Ugh then there are Christmas lights.... we have recycled all of our so we are now a 100% LED llighted  house! That has to count for something!

Ok and then there are gifts.... what to buy... or not to buy. I have a mental checklist of the thing I want my gift to have or not have....
Is it made in America? If not is it from China, and will there be lead in it?
Does it have a recall?
Is it fair trade if it is made in another country?
Is it made from recycled materials? Is the packaging made from recycled materials? ect. ect ect.

So I am of the mind that I will do my best, to keep in mind the check list. And this year like many previous years we will be doing as many homemade gifts as possible. Last year it was full of recycled home made crayons, scented play dough, real sock monkey dolls, and a hand painted tic tac toe set. My kids didn't lack for anything. This year they are a little bit older and little bit wiser. Gifts CAN come from a store! Crap they figured it out! SO I am playing the we have no money card.

I informed them we have a tight budget, and I was going to make them a bunch of their gifts. I got groans, but little do they know I think they will like what I am making them. I have already made my daughter a memory board that I up cycled from my old cork board and scrap fabric and ribbons. I also am making each child a bean bag chair... bought the fabric for 1.29 a yard, and the char needs 3 yrds. I am going to post on free cycle that I need packing peanuts to fill them... grand total 8 bucks per chair give or take! I am also sewing them jammie pants, and a robe if time does not run out.... hmmm I should really get sewing!

How do you green up your Christmas? Got any tips for me??

I'm all hot and steamy!

Hahahah I am sure I got your attention with that title huh? But really I am. I braved the element to go out on black Friday, and low and behold I found a deal that I just couldn't pass up. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, it was hidden just waiting to be discovered. Not where it was supposed to be, but in the toy department, hidden behind something electronic and annoying and loud. Something I would never allow in my home, but there behind it just waiting for me to find it was the shark steam mop.

Yup I grabbed it and ran strait for the check out. I bought it, and drove home as fast as I legally could... ok well a little faster than that, but I had to get home! I had gotten my dream "toy". I busted it out of the box, swept every hard flat surface in my home and filled it. To my pure delight it heated right up, and poof poof a steaming I went.

I started in the entry way....sizzle sizzle. Cleaned my tile beautifully. Headed into kitchen, and I did it on the floor, and then moved my way to the table...yes you heard me I did it on the table!! Well after that there was only one place left to do it, one place dirty enough to justify cleaning...yes the bathroom floor. Again I was not disappointed. I was hot and steamy all over the house, and loved every moment of it.

I am sure this seems silly but what a great way to get rid of more of the chemical in our home. I am able to clean and sanitize my home without the use of chemicals. How great is that. I consider this a victory in getting a little bit more green without it hurting us, it is actually cheaper and healthier.

p.s. the shark mop was not the one on the super black Friday sale, but it wasn't too much more than the sale price so money well spent in my book!

In the beginning

In the beginning there were 2, and those 2 were missing something. So they went out and discovered the perfect combination of each one and made 3, but 3 was not nearly enough so soon they made 4. 4 was good for a while, a long while actually, and then something was still missing so they decided that number 5 was in order. So here we are a happily little family of 5!

Ok that is little corny but it is really how it happened. I met my husband in 1996, we got married in  May of 2001, had our daughter in  October of 2001, then added a son in August of 2004. We thought things were good but decided that it might maybe one more might be even better! So in June of 2010 we added our second son to the mix.

So yes we are a family of 5 people and many pets in a house that is a little too small and these are our adventures on our path to becoming a green family.... ok, ok, a lite green family. Because as an American family with average kids there is no way I can convince them to become totally green and off the grid. But hey a girl can dream!