Can You Say Spring Cleaning?

Massive, massive cleaning!!!!!

I have cleaned & purged the master closet room (yes room - we converted a tiny bedroom into a full closet - love it!).  I got rid of clothing & shoes we haven't worn in a long time.  Clothes that were ripped, torn, stained & even clothes that were not.  Clothes that were a bit snug or just weren't flattering anymore (no I am not going to save them until I loose weight, cause I'm not!).  Bought a huggable hanger knock off (from The Christmas Tree Shop - 10 for $4.99 - cheapest anywhere! [they had to be, we bought about 100]) & yes they do exactly what the TV people say they do - gives more space & nothing falls off them.

Next we cleaned out the pantry/laundry/boiler room.  Got a new washer & dryer, rearranged the room so it's now easier to do laundry (if that's possible), organized the shelves, put things in containers & jars & actually LABELED everything, yes it's true!

And last, but certainly not least, I cleaned out my craft room - years of stuff that I swore I needed & couldn't live without & of course was definitely going to absolutely use someday.  Yup - sorted, tossed, organized & finally can see things (like the floor) & actually use the good stuff I saved.

Our garbage men hate us, as I swear we have put out at least 75 black garbage bags to the curb so far, with at least 25 or so waiting to go out!

We do have one more black hole we have to tackle & that's the attic.  Lord that is going to be rough, but it has to be done.  I will be tying a rope around my waist so if I don't come out after a day or two, they can rescue me!

Just Say NO to a Dishwasher!

I don't have a dishwasher - oh the horror!

When my parents purchased this house in 1974, it did not have a dishwasher - most houses then did not (except for the "big" houses - which this house is not!).  As a kid growing up in Broklyn, that place certainly did not have a dishwasher - that is until I turned about 8 - then I became the dish washer, and I have been hand washing dishes ever since.

Now that I took over my parents house, I have left the kithcen as is - sans a dishwasher.  I hear audible gasps from people when I say that we don't have one.  What is the big deal? 

Thinking about it, dishwashers kind of skeive me out anyway.  The thought of dirty dishes sitting in there for 1,2 or 3 days makes me cringe.  I often wonder too, exactly how many dishes must one own in order to let a dishwasher fill up yet still have dishes to eat off of?

See, I have grown accustomed  to and actually like washing dishes (shhhh - don't tell my family).  My sink is at the window which looks out into my backyard, which I love.  I can watch the rabbit or the birds at the feeder or the dogs running when they are out.  In the warmer months, the window is wide open, which makes it even nicer.

I guess I have developed a system, and hand washing isn't really that bad.  I usually have the radio on, just about everyone has left the kitchen (except the dogs) and I actually can relax - lose myself in my thoughts if you will.  Most days I look forward to "my time".  I'd be lying if there weren't times when I cursed doing them, but fortunately those times are not too often.

So call me crazy - but yes I have no dishwasher.  (Hah - the house in Maine has one - wonder what I'll use it for!)

                                                           My little dishwashing haven

Argan Oil

I found a real treasure for moisturizing my face - Argan Oil.

Argan Tree

Pits & Seeds

 Argan oil is an oil produced from the kernels of the Argan tree, native to Morocco, it is valued for its nutritional, cosmetic and medicinal properties. Ancient  people of Morocco would collect undigested argan pits from the waste of goats which climb the trees to eat their fruit. The pits were then ground and pressed to make the nutty oil used in cooking and cosmetics. Hopefully today's oil is harvested in a much more sanitary way!  But it just goes to show how great this oil is, if people were willing to go to these extremes just to harvest it!!!

Using oil on my face at first seemed incongruous, after all weren't we taught that we had to get rid of the oils on our face?  But I realize the opposite is true (even if you have "oily" skin), if you hydrate your skin with the right kind of oil, it won't need to produce oil, thus making your face oily. 

 I use Josie Maran brand & adore it!

I also use oils to cleanse my face, but I make up my own concoction!  Three parts extra virgin olive oil (moisturizes) and one part of castor oil (cleansing), I put itnto a spray bottle and use twice a day - better than anything I ever have purchased over the counter!

At least we are protected from aliens!

Since we don't have cable in Maine (i.e. we don't subscribe to cable)and with the switch to digital signal, we had to be very creative to get any kind of stations while here.

We have the "converter" box - which is like tits on a bullfrog (sorry - but true)it does nothing really. So we purchased an antenna from Wal-Mart and still no reception. This is when I tell Guy to get me the aluminum foil - the look on his face made me realize that he truly had no idea what I was going to do.

This soon to be 15 year old, who never had anything but cable TV, with a choice of 300+ channels, never had to make an antenna from tin foil or a wire coat hanger. How many times did I hook up my old 16" black and white TV I had in my room to long speaker wires wrapped in foil? Or to bend a metal coat hanger and attach it to my portable radio to get better reception? Too many to count!

Anyway, I went to work and began to build a Rube Goldberg television antenna, while Guy looked on in hesitation, thinking his mother really flipped her lid. This is what we wound up with




We started with one channel & now have eight - woo hoo!!!!

As luck would have it....................

We play car tag at our house since we have three cars, so one of us is inevitably blocked by the others - so someone (me) always has to go and rearrange cars. Lately I just have taken to parking on the street (since I have been so lazy lately), but yesterday I had done some errands and had packages to take inside, I pulled onto the driveway. I never got around to moving and it turns out that was a good thing - because out of the clear blue - a huge limb fell off from the otherwise healthy tree in front of our house right onto the spot where my car would have been!!!! And it defiantly would have been destroyed! Maybe my luck is changing!

Teddy the wonder dog is checking things out.

Fireplace Candelabra

I have always wanted one of these - especially since the flue in our fireplace broke and we no longer can actually light a fire. Instead, I found yet another spot to put stuff in - I love the mirror I found and propped against the back wall -it makes everything look endless. Last weekend at the Bellmore flea market, I found this one for $8.00 - a big bag of tea lights at Odd Lot for $4.00 & white pillar candles for $3.00. Not to have the candles melt away and cause a mess, I simply hollowed out a well deep enough to accommodate a tea light, placed one in the hollow and now I have the look I want, no mess and all I do is replace the tea lights as needed. This is how it was done and how it turned out.










All in all - I think it turned out great!!!! The room simply glows with this lit!

Homemade Laundry Detergant.......

To continue my quest for going green & for also wanting to economize I have begun to make my own cleaning solutions. The first one is laundry detergent. Simple really -grate one bar of Fels-Naptha soap & boil it down to melt it (I used an old pot), 1/2c Borax & 1 c washing soda. Mix thoroughly in a 5 gallon bucket, and then add enough hot water to fill the bucket. The solution will gel up - but will be easy to pour it into an empty container (I used an empty Tide container) - fill it half way & then the rest with hot water - shake well & shake well each time you use it. I use 1/4c per wash in my front loader - I did some quick calculations & figured that it costs .0125 per load - can you believe it?

The other equally easy solution I made recently is a fabric deodorizer (Febreeze)
Mix together 1/4c of your favorite fabric softener, 1T of baking soda & 2c of hot water in a spray bottle.

I love the way this smells & makes the fabric feel - I figure this to be equal to .50 for the bottle

This picture marries two of my favorite themes in my house...

Vintage sewing & vintage kitchenware - I just wanted to add it to my blog. I am good at looking at an item & then being able to copy it. Guess what is one of my next projects? Bellmore flea market - here I come!

My Vintage Sewing Collection

I am mad about vintage sewing notions - from threads, needles, pin cushions, old buttons, etc. There is something so lovely & endearing about these articles - the loving & creative hands that used these things to create everyday necessities for their families. I like to imagine who they were & what they look liked - next to cooking, sewing was probably the most important thing a woman could do for her family. Back to school clothes, baby blankets, mittens, prom dresses - so many occasions made even more special with their wonderful creations. It's funny because I can't sew a button on straight! I can pretty much do or create anything - a lot of times just be looking at something I can create it almost exact. When looking at an everyday object, I can see at least tens ways I can alter it or incorporate it into my art - but I could not take up a hem if my life depended on it. Perhaps that's why I am drawn to these notions - it gives me a sense of connection to past generations of women before me.

My Menagerie

Let me introduce you to my animal friends - there is Lucy -a 110# Rottie mix - she is 4 yrs. old & there's Teddy, a 100# Rottie mix - 3 years old (10 months younger than Lucy). They both think they are lap dogs - trust me they are not - not when your thigh goes completely numb after they sit on it for a while. Then there's Nalla & George - litter mates and they are 21 weeks old .

Outside lives Squittle (named after a Pokemon character - { I kid you not} ) & Oreo - for obvious reason. Also outside live about 18 gold fish (no pictures sorry!) they are all orange, about 5-8" long & look exactly alike except for who we call "Big Moe" - I brought him for .69 and he was about 2" big. He is now about 15-18" and VERY fat - orange with black & white spotting -he definitely king of the pond! We have indoor birds - but that's for another post. My husband thinks I am out of my mind, but I want to get a rooster & chicken for the backyard as well - maybe in the Spring!