Free Shaklee

I will be at the Saint Augusta Legion this Saturday for the Craft and Vendor Show. It runs from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Come and get a free Shaklee 180 Green Tea packet. I love my daily cup hot, even better with a book. Add yours to your water bottle for a pick-me-up on the go, if you like. I will have samples of some of the Shaklee 180 snack bars. Make a purchase from me or sign up to host a meeting and receive a stamp on your vendor card. Redeem your full card for a door prize. I will be providing a bottle of Basic H and a set of spray bottles. Remember, that bottle of Basic H is the equivalent of 5,824 (26 oz) bottles of a leading window spray, and it contains no harmful ammonia.

I am making my last batch of my Swany Mill Wild Rice Flour bread today. I have to say that I was disappointed to see on the flour package labeling that the first ingredient was unbleached white flour, not wild rice. I should have looked closer when I bought it. I will not buy it again.

I am also making another double batch of the King Arthur Flour Beautiful Burger Buns. They are good!

Another Use for Basic H

Another three weeks left to go on the heart monitor. I think it is a waste, but the cardiovascular department insists upon it before I have the tilt table test. And so the vertigo diagnostic saga continues. The adhesives from the electrode pads have left my skin red and raw. (If I am not mistaken, Shakespeare used those very words in his poem about winter!) I have even passed on the band-aid like patches which I am supposed to use over the electrodes and wires, to reduce the break-down, but it has helped  very little. The hospital put some Med Sol wipes in my pouch for wiping off the adhesive when I change pads, but the little 1.5"x 2" wipes do not do much, and smell like Goo-Be-Gone. This morning in desperation I whipped out my bottle of Basic H to use after the wipe. I know that the Shaklee Corporation says Basic H is not tested for use on skin, but hey, I am from the generation that used dish detergent for bubble bath. I am sure that Basic H is safer than Ivory Liquid, Dove, or Dawn! I have to say that Basic H is easier to use in the bathtub than as a wash in the shower, since it does not suds well. I shall have to use it on a wash cloth next time. Anything to get the goo off.

I finished the next three books in the Little House early years series by Melissa Wiley, the Charlotte years. I was disappointed that the books did not give more of the story of how Martha came to live in the United States, and how Charlotte's family moved to upper Michigan. However, in looking up the titles of the books before sitting down to type, (I have already passed the books on to my daughter), I see that there is one more book in each of the two series which I do not have. Those two books may give me more clues as to why Martha's family left Europe, and why Charlotte's family left Massachusetts. I will be looking for them on Friday at Barnes and Noble  as we attend the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School fundraiser.

I finished Jan Karon's Shepherds Abiding. I checked for the next book in the Mitford series when I was at Savers on Friday. No cigar. However, this morning as I was picking up in the girls' bedroom, I realized that I had the next volume on the shelf. Cool! Now I can take it with when I go to my Mom's today.

I am back to sewing fleece mittens and hats again. I wanted solid colors for the girls, and had seen nothing at the stores. I also wanted heavy mittens for Maja, but nothing in that category in the stores, either. I decided that I will simply have to make my own. It took an evening to dig through my patterns to find the ones I wanted. Then, after cutting out two hats, a headband and two pairs of mittens, I had to remember how my mitten pattern got put together. Then after sewing the first hat I saw that the size was too small for Maja, and I had intended that color for Ari. I am suspecting that the next size given in my book will be too large for Maja,, so it is time to get out the compass and draw a new pattern. My thought was to make two hats and two pairs or more of mittens for each girl, so that they would have some to lose. I figured that sizing would be an issue, which is no big deal, since I figured that anything not fitting them would go to Catholic Charities. While I am at it, I will cut out mittens or whatever fits out of the fleece I have left over from baby blankets. That has been sitting here for four years waiting for me to use it up.

Then one of these winter days I will have to start quilting again.

Swiffer vs. Mop or Broom

The first section of our new flooring is finished. Now that I have a very large surface of vinyl tile, I thought that I would finally go modern and try a Swiffer. The ads on television make them look very effective at picking up dirt,, and everyone seems to be using them to the point that "swiffing" seems to be a new verb. (I have not checked to see if it in fact has made it into the latest Oxford Dictionary.)

My wonders before I made the purchase were: What is the difference between a Swiffer and my microfiber dust mop? Can I use my Shaklee Basic H with it, or will I have to use the Swiffer formula? and, What about all of the waste and expense involved with the wipes? I had seen something on someone's Pinterest board about making one's own wipes, so I decided to search a few web sites on DIY Swiffing supplies. I found a few, looked, and decided I could replace the Swiffer refill products with my own home-made. I decided to swing for a purchase.

First, which one to buy? Should I get the Swiffer which picks up particles in a dust pan before wiping the floor? Hmmmm. Sounds too much like the broom and dust pan I already have. What about the scrubbing Swiffer, which my daughter has? I already have a mop, although I prefer scrubbing small spaces on my hands and knees. The floor duster alone? I settled for the wet/dry version so that I would have another mop head which would fit into small spaces for both dusting and scrubbing. My current sponge mop, dust mop and broom are not very effective in getting into corners, and the packaging says the Swiffer is good in tight spots.

I was ready to scrub when I got home, so I opened up my purchase immediately. Took me a few minutes to figure out how I was supposed to attach the cleaning cloth. The label was not very clear. That blue strip looked like Velcro which was supposed to attach to something. Finally figured out that those holes with the teeth were what was meant as the "fixer". I'm thinking that it will not take many uses before those teeth start bending and breaking, just as the teeth do on disposable wipe containers. My second reaction was that the cloths were making more of a mess on my floor by the dripping solution than the spots I wanted to clean. It would not be very efficient if each time I went to wipe something up I had to clean up after the Swiffer cloth first. The third response which I had was that the smell of the wet solution was very strong, and heavily scented. I was glad when I had my three refills used up so that I could throw them all away. I thought I was going to have to move the dirty clothes to the fireplace immediately for burning to get the odor out of the house so that I could breathe again. Now I know I will never buy them again.

I used all three wipes in the package to scrub about twenty-five square feet. Granted that I was wiping grout off of a newly laid floor, and it was dirty,  but I thought that if I have to continually change my cloths as I am scrubbing our kitchen/family room, I may as well use my mop and bucket.

I have not tried the dust cloths yet. Those may be more practical depending on how often I "swiff" the floors. The draw-back with my current microfiber dust mop is that it seems to get so dirty so fast, and it takes so long to dry after washing. At least now I will have two mop heads to trade off with. As recommended in one blog, I immediately stopped at the dollar store and bought three pairs of chenille socks to use as Swiffer cloths, so with six changes, that should last me a week. I will still have to use the broom and dust pan to get the larger, heavier stuff, just as I did before with my dust mop.

All that said, I finished scrubbing the floors this evening with my pail, sponge mop and Basic H. The water was clearer than after last night's scrubbing, but I still see spots where I think I will have to wipe off grout by hand.

'Til next time, happy cleaning.

Another Recipe from Jeanne Cooney's Book

Yesterday I made the Chicken Dumpling Hot Dish recipe from Jeanne Cooney's,  A Second Helping of Murder and Recipes. We liked it. It had good flavor. There was loads of leftover sauce, however, so next time I make it I will either add more chicken (I had cooked two large breasts for this batch.),  vegetables (blanched and drained, if frozen), a  couple of cooked, cubed potatoes, or some frozen hash browns. I put some frozen hash browns in the bottom of a casserole dish and scooped the leftover hot dish on top of it for a second meal for us, or lunches for me. I had seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper before adding the other ingredients, but next time will only pepper the chicken. The soup already made it salty enough. In my humble opinion, at least. My husband was adding salt to his portion before eating it last night. I can't imagine how that must have tasted. Any relation between that salt shaker and his high blood pressure?

We made a few stops on the Central Minnesota Builders Association tour of homes yesterday. We were not overly impressed. At the first house we stopped at, I would have needed a step stool in all of the closets, and in the laundry room, not to mention the kitchen. The closets all had hanging bars which were out of my reach. In two of the houses the master  bedroom closets had to be entered through the bathroom, which I would not like. Fine if one is getting dressed right out of the shower, but what a pain if you just need to grab a pair of shoes or a sweater. I could imagine having to walk over my husband using a sink or the commode while I was trying to get dressed. The million dollar house had a mouse hole in the wall between the walk-in closet and the laundry room for dirty clothes. I would have put the hole up higher so that clothes could be dropped into a basket on the other side instead of being kicked through, and then needing to be picked up off of the floor. I also would have put a door on the hole for privacy. One of the houses had a nursery-sized room (furnished as a nursery for the show) at the top of the stairs, but way down the hall from the master bedroom. I did not think that very practical. Gone are the great rooms of a few years ago. Gone also are formal living rooms and dining rooms. Instead the new homes are designed with huge family room spaces in the lower levels. Not sure if that is a good idea, either. There is such a thing as kids having too much privacy, out of the way of parental supervision. I see family rooms as being redundant when there is a living room in the house. A small play room within sight of Mom's or Grandma's main work areas would be a better option. Second story laundry rooms are another phenomenon which would take some getting used to, as well as laundry rooms too small to hold an ironing board. What's the point?  Bonus rooms are also in, but I figure, why not just build a closet in so that they can truly be multi-purpose, serving as an extra bedroom, guest room or work room. Having just picked out new flooring for our house, we thought some of the flooring in these expensive homes to be cheap in comparison to our choices. We saw a patio home with a very noticeable gap between the flooring and baseboard in a bathroom, so construction was not necessarily any better than that in our Fred house, either. The things which I did like on the tour were a built-in china cabinet and sun room in the patio home and the patios and garage floor at the million dollar house. Husband commented on my negativity, but I pointed out that that could be a bonus for him, since I was not clamoring for upgrades! We have plenty of house as it is. Just needs some de-junking, which will continue as we paint and clean for the flooring project.

My Shaklee Basic H came to the rescue again twice last week. The first time was when Arthur needed to remove some tar from his car. The second time was when I went to clean electric tape residue off of the mirror above my vanity I presume it was Fred or Kathy who had put electrical tape around the mirror to hide the black spots. I decided it was time to rip it off. My Basic H worked like a charm. 

Bee Balm Beetles

Here are some images of my bee balm beetles after a week. I am still picking them off in large quantities. As you can see in the second image, there are a few buds on the monarda, but it is well eaten, and full of bug droppings. Each time I go out I see tops which have turned dry because they have been eaten through. The beetles  continue to drown when I knock them in to my water and Basic H mixture.

On a brighter note, my brother had requested that I save some Bleeding Heart seeds from the plants at my mom's house. I was wondering how I would do that. Last Monday when I was at my mom's, I saw a bunch of seed pods hanging off of the plants. I obviously did not remember that they form pods. At any rate, I picked several which were still green as I was heading for my car. I threw the pods into my plastic car cup and drove home. I left the cup in my car for a few days 'til I was ready to bring it into the house. In the meantime, the pods dried and burst open. Seeds, ready to plant. I will mail them off  when I get a "round tuit".

We went to the parade and festival in St. Joe today. I was surprised at all of the people marching in the parade whom I recognized, from homeschoolers to politicians to businessmen. Ariana was afraid of all of the fire and police sirens and the loud trucks. On the other hand, she liked the horses and wanted to pet them. She also liked the water fountain on the Woods Farmer Seed and Nursery float. I wanted to call out to Woods, "Hey! Remember me? I'm the lady who bought the 16 bags of mulch yesterday!" I was dying for a Joe Burger, but the line was very long, and it started raining. The first time I went to the St. Joe festival was when I was working at St. Ben's the summer between freshman and sophomore years. I thought the Joe cones and Joe Burgers quite the riot. I was single then, so did not mind waiting in the blazing sun for a burger. The parish now has a new parish center which they use for the country store and fancy stands. I did purchase a dolly quilt and pillow for the dollies at Grandma's house. Otherwise there was little to do.

Another link on the  horsemint, or bee balm beetle: http://www.fnanaturesearch.org/index.php?option=com_naturesearch&task=view&id=1622

Garden Pests

With all of the rain we have had this year my flower gardens are the lushest,  most bloom-filled I have ever had. The johnny jumps went crazy and filled in all sorts of holes. The daisies and lamb's ears sent out seeds and shoots to fill in their end of the garden. The lilies have multiplied over the years to create a large drift. Besides the rain, it might also have helped  because I sprinkled the beds with Osmocote and added compost in a few places.

My only disappointment has been with the bee balm, which for the second year has been severely damaged before bloom time. Last year I attributed its poor performance to drought. This year I decided to investigate. I found my plants loaded with these bugs, which are probably the bee balm beetle, or one-spotted tortoise beetle. Their excrement makes them appear as if they have fish tails.  I could not find any method of pest control for them, so I resorted to washing my plants down with Shaklee Basic H, and then hand-picking. My first picking was around June 20th. A week later the bugs were turned mostly to yellow beetles with one small black spot on each side of their shell. Yesterday I went out for my third picking, and found only four or five beetles on the undersides of the leaves. Four or five of the stalks have been  completely eaten, and others are half eaten, but the rest look very healthy. Several stalks have buds on them. I am sure now that they will thrive.

The rains brought the return of a second pest, the Japanese beetle, which occupies my rose bushes almost every year. Last year I did not have them. I decided to try hand picking those as well to see if I can keep them under control. They seem to congregate several on a bud, so yesterday I was able to shake a few buds to get most of them off. (Heaven forbid that I would actually touch one of them with my  bare hands! Eeew!) As with the tortoise beetle, I dumped them into a solution of water with a squirt of Basic H. They drowned in a matter of seconds. (The tortoise beetles died instantly.)

I ripped out the last of the landscape fabric which I had in the yard around my climbing rose and cranberry bushes. I hate that stuff. There were no weeds growing through it, but many weeds growing on top of it. The weed roots seem to cling to the landscape fabric, making them harder to pull out than if I were just pulling them out of the ground. Besides that the stuff never seems to stay covered. The mulch which I had put on top of the fabric had disintegrated and turned into a reddish  soil. The lilies which I planted in that section  just this spring are ready to bloom. Some of them look as though the rabbits have gotten them, though. All the more reason to trim back the forsythia bush, so that the cat can have easy access to the little buggers. I have seen cottontails in the neighborhood a couple of times, and I have also seen cottontail fuzz in the yard, so I believe one of them and Gracie have had at least one close encounter.

I had a woodpecker at my mesh finch feeder this morning. I was a bit surprised,  given that I had peanuts on the table feeder on one side of it, and whole sunflower seeds in the feeder on the other side. The birds have not touched Ariana's leftover graham crackers, which I put on the table feeder.