Mother's Day: Great Gift in a SNAP!!
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Run by the Grocery store and get 3 or 4 quart canning jars (usually in the seasonal section near "charcoal"), then bop over to Michaels Craft Center and buy the "gel" that looks like water. (Yes, they sure have it...) and grab four or five pretty silk hyacinths while you are there. When you get home, simply snap (or cut with wire cutters) the stem, and angle the buds in the mason jars with the gel setting. You can do this with Silk Rose buds to, making them appear to float in water. Just do this carefully and you will have a AWESOME design for Mom in a jiff. You may want to get some beautiful ribbon and tie them together to present as a gift. If you want to extra fancy, Lavender (or Rose) Bath Items and room spray would compliment the floral gift quite well. I would just grab the bath items from a pharmacy. Have a GREAT weekend and good luck! Now let's hope your Mom does not read this or you know what you may be getting in return! Cooler-you can do this every year and give her different colors to work with. Here is a link to an on-line seller of faux water. |
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Other News...Long awaited Beekeepers Digest is now in print and the book is lovely! Click here to order...Beat the Skeets...Already I am hearing our lemon creme and lotion is loved by men as well, and working better than Skin So Soft for night time cook outs. Meaning the bugs do not like the scent, but the humans do! They say it is also working far better than any citrus candle.
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In
a pinch for Mother's Day? I bet you are! Forget buying
over priced fresh flowers that were probably cut premature for the
mass demand holiday. Make these real looking "silk"
decorations for your Mom in a snap! Awesome if there are "two"
Moms to plan for! They retail for at least $44 if you were to
buy them from a silk flower company. They cost under $9 to
make your self.
Click Below to Purchase Ingredient List
Going Green Ideas with Class by Mabel White
Drying clothes outside and skipping the Dryer not only saves money, but also extends the life of your clothing such as cottons and silks. Many Europeans do this, and it can be done tastefully without infringing on the "neighbors" view. For winter months we use wooden racks inside the house. Clothes are dry over night which most of us do not know, because we are so spoiled with Kenmore. Consider hand washing dishes. That may save a good $20 a month on your energy bill. Do use one eco friendly all purpose cleaner rather than several pricey household detergents. It saves money and helps the environment. Make your own Windex, with an old Windex bottle good old vinegar and water. If you want color, you can use a few drops of any food color you like. Save money on anti bacterial soaps, which often cause a built up resistance-and have 90% proof or higher alcohol in decorated glass vinegar bottles near areas that hands are washed. That alone can save up to $520 a year. We use the alcohol to wipe down commonly touched areas like toilet & phone handles when any flu breaks out. That has helped to reduce transmitted bugs by 90% or more in our work and home areas. Grow your own herbs year round for cooking, medicine and natural air purification. Now is teh time to get them, as they are hard to get in the off season months. Why buy glade when you can purify your air naturally and essentially for free? Basil is gorgeous, a natural air purifier, and you can make pesto and all kinds of other great dishes with it. You just cannot kill Basil, I grow it in water vases all around the house. Each sprig grows big and lush-and I do have it year round. I even use it for floral greens when I make floral arrangements from my garden. Chocolate Mint has become my second best favorite. It is also purported to grow in water alone-although I am still experimenting with that. There is nothing like fresh infused chocolate mint tea after dinner. Odd, it is a fairly clear hot liquid and not what you would expect to see. Like Basil, it smells luscious and gently purifiers the air. Lemon Grass and Cilantro are now my 3rd and 4th favorites. Lemon Grass does look like an over grown blade of grass, and again, hard to kill. Splashed with Lime juice, these two make plain old Chicken Broth a Thai "Tum Yum" soup real quick! They are also used in Mexican dishes like fajitas. I am now freezing fresh herbs with water in ice cube trays. Plus growing your own herbs is healthier. I have become a much better cook now, and find it challenging to work with just a few ingredients. Not so much because of a recession, but more because my diet is so limited to feel great. In the kitchen now, it is "quality" not "quantity." A feature protein, fresh vegetables, a great salad dressing-and no tons of starchy sides as most of us our accustomed. This is better by far for health and weight, better on the budget, allows easier clean up and is very satisfying. Changing our idea of what "delights" us, such as a cup of chocolate peppermint tea instead of a a big fat dessert after dinner. The truth is, we do not feel that great after a big rich dessert.
When stored in the kitchen, near the sink, Mabel's Miracle All Purpose Organic Castile Liquid Soap is very much a conversation piece. Old fashioned, yet contemporary with its ...graceful crane neck, this is truly a classic product. The crane actually pumps out one exact ounce of liquid. The crane can also be re-used later on most any 1/2 gallon bottle. We keep this liquid Castile by the sink to use as a veggie wash, to make soapy water for dishes, or to clean other areas of the house, such as counter tops and wood flooring. We also have a bottle in our laundry room where we use this bio friendly soap in conjunction with Borax to meet our laundry needs. Our Castile liquid soap is safe on skin, but we do not recommend it for that. There are no skin conditioners in this particular soap. It is made with organic olive and coconut oils. Made in the America, this is a totally vegetable based soap. Maid Holistic is a book Mabel wrote with methods and formulas to clean a home naturally. This is also in e-Book form and free with a purchase of Mabel's Miracle Castile Soap. Click here to down load the manual. In the book the author discusses how to "feed" wooden floors with this soap and few drops of Lavender and Peppermint essential oils. This soap is a fair alternative to Mabel's Organic Oil Soap and can be also used as one would Murphy's, as well as Dr. Bronners. A 1/2 gallon lasts us a good for months and is over all a great savings by replacing several high end commercial cleaning products.
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Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book. For more environmental articles on water and oil.
Visit Deborah on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/deborah.dolen MySpace http://www.myspace.com/deborah_dolen Twitter http://twitter.com/DeborahDolen or BlogSpot http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/ Buy Natural Liquid Soap! It is much safer than commercial brands. Natural Liquid Soap for People or Natural Liquid Soap for pets.
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Exchange
paper towels for cloth. Our favorite green practice actually goes
back to a trip to the United Kingdom! Generally Londoners have
less per square foot living quarters and have to make every inch of it
count. They are also very accustomed to using natural resources
sparingly. It is hard to find "paper towels" at any UK residents
abode. They use cloth and simply throw the cloth in with their
wash. After understanding that concept, we thought about just
how much we spend on paper towels per week. It was like $40 a
week in our laboratories and a good $8.00 in our households. We
went ahead and spent $50 on lots of white wash clothes and hand towels
for both areas, knowing it was the last time we would spend gobs on
paper towels. This has saved us in excess of $2,000 over a year
period. 