Hippie or Not?

As the past year has gone by I have been trying to find ways to save money. I’m all about saving the earth and what not, but that was not my original concern. I know… I’m a bad person. I haven’t had a job and after my husband retired from the Air Force he didn’t either for about 8 months. It started out with us doing a garden and coupons and has snowballed from there.

~I try to grow most of our own vegetables. My winter garden failed miserably. The deer came and ate all my new baby plants! ***reminder to put something around/over my garden next year***

~I coupon, but it really does take up so much time that I’m not into it as much as I was at the beginning.

~I taught myself to crochet and made my Christmas presents last year and am working on them this year.

~I am teaching myself to sew.

~I started using vinegar and baking soda for much of my cleaning.

~I bake my own bread… with a bread machine of course! I make my own bagels and cook a week worth of pancakes to last the kids so I don’t have to buy poptarts any more.

~I started composting this year. We will see in the spring how I did on it…

~My recycle bin is overflowing and my trash can is not.

~I always try to reuse things or re-purpose them.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. While looking for recipes I found a new blog that I just love!!! It’s called Crunchy Betty and she has the best info and links all in one place! Here is the link to The Best of Crunchy Betty!

After my research today I went out to purchase all my ingredients and found them all at Walmart! I was very surprised since I haven’t seen the items at regular grocery stores. I am getting my oils online. I got my 5 gallon bucket at Firehouse Subs! Score! We got to eat lunch there also. I hope my laundry doesn’t smell like pickles…

I’m excited to start making my cleaning products and testing them out! I know many have been tried and tested over and over again, but there are always positive and negative comments so I’m starting on my journey to find the ones that work best for me. I will post them when I make them and try them out with the links to where I found them of course!

Now the question is… am I turning into a hippie? Where do I buy hippie clothes? Oh and that green stuff that they smoke too!!! J/K… Nah, I’m not a hippie, just a chick that wants to know what is in her products and save money at the same time!

Well, that’s it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful night!

Kitchen Scrubby

So I decided to toss my last sponge and didn’t feel like buying more. They get gross and not matter how many times I put them in the wash cycle of the dishwasher I just feel like they never really get clean. I came up with the idea to make my own. Now I know it’s been done before but not by me! I used cotton yarn and tulle to make them. The first time I did cotton on one side and a cotton tulle mix on the other side. I have decided that I want the scrubby side to be scrubbier so on the later ones I used only the tulle for the other side. They work great and I can toss them in the washing machine! I wash them by themselves in hot water. I made the mistake of washing them with my towels and towel fuzz is not embedded in the first batch. Blah! Another great thing is that they never get that icky mildew smell!

The cold has come…

I borrowed this from Kate.

Winter is the worst time of year for me. It’s not just the weather. It’s also the kids in school and the holidays. There is so much stress. I’m in pain most of the time. I was falling asleep last night and I had to write something… this is what I came up with…

I know who I am but what am I becoming?

Year by year, month by month, day by day I change.

The pain gets worse but my mind… it’s still strong!

I joke. I laugh. I cry.

I try to fill my days so I can forget, but it only reminds more that I can’t.

I pay for everything that I do.

It pulls apart my inner being.

I try to stay strong!

My mind is whittling away bit by bit.

My memory is receding, but my mind still wants to be strong!

I feel guilt. I feel sorrow. I feel emptiness.

My mind is trying to remember to stay strong!

I may wither when things are bad, but my mind will be stronger in the end!

+++++++EDIT++++++

Sorry for any grammatical errors or it not being in the right form. That was what I got from my husband and his daughter… I’m glad they understand me.

++++++++EDIT+++++++

I’m sorry, I know my husband understands or tries to. He is really wonderful and I am truly lucky to have him. He just doesn’t know how to deal with it sometimes. I usually joke about it and he tried to joke with me about my post and I got upset. It hurt my feelings. I’m not always easy to read so I understand. I love you Sweetie and I’m sorry I got upset. I’m just in pain and having a hard time dealing with things lately.

Hmmm…

… I’m starting to wonder if I have a life. I make bread and bagels all day. I talk to myself on Facebook when no one talks back. I am addicted to Pinterest. I spend more time Pinning then doing. I crochet for hours. I clean. I talk to myself and my animals since I’m home all day by myself. I call them lazy when they won’t help around the house. What a bunch of freeloaders. I take naps almost everyday. Ummm… what else…

Me

My diseases may change what I am, but they don’t change who I am!

Felted Purse

I was so excited about the purse that I made for my S-I-L that I decided to give it to her for her birthday. I made myself a little one. That is the real reason I gave her hers. I wanted to use mine, but if I did she would know what I made for her. I made the mistake of telling her that I was making me something similar.  Here is her purse!

Before felting…

After felting…

I realized I don’t have a pic of hers after I dried it. This pic has pins in it and card board to stretch it to the correct shape.

You can find the pattern here if you want to try it yourself!

Post, Post, Post!

Sorry, I was pretty lame in October so I had to do some catching up! There are 4 new posts including this one. I really want to post my crochet projects but I can’t until after Christmas!!! Ugh! Oh well, I have 4 of my presents done and am working on the rest of them. I’m so excited and can’t wait to give them out!

Pretzels!

I made some yummy pretzels! I love my bread maker. I wish I would have realized it earlier. LOL! I made the dough in my machine and here are the pictures of the rest of the process!!!

Once the dough is ready you roll it out and cut it into strips and twist them into position. Pop them in the oven for a few minutes and then you boil them for a few minutes.

Drain them for a few minutes.

Brush them with egg whites and water, add your salt and cook them for about 25 minutes.

Take them out and you have yummy pretzels to eat!

They are now all gone. They didn’t last long at all! Next time I think I will make them a little fatter. Sooooo yummy!!!

Johnsonville Party!

At the beginning of October I was able to host a House Party for Johnsonville! I really don’t like pepperoni so this was perfect for me!

Since I learned about grilling pizza I’ve decided it’s the only way for me!

The best husband in the whole wide world!!!

Our awesome pizza bar! Everyone brought their favorite toppings so we had a bunch to choose from!

Making the pizzas!

We cooked the pizza in the oven since there were so many of them. I usually put them on the grill on the non-heat side.

We had a great time that night. We had almost 20 people there. It was a great party and I’m so glad that I could enjoy it with my friends and family!

Seizure???

So the doc thinks I’m having mini seizures. From my latest description and the meds I’m on that is the route we are heading in now. I’m on a new medicine, Lamictal. He said it is for seizures and very safe. Not sure what his idea of safe is when the warning says I can get a life threatening rash!?! LOL! What kind of rash is life threatening? I did find that Lupus can cause these types of seizures. My old Rheumy said I was in the beginning stages of Lupus. Does this mean I’m further along now? Blah, all this sucks.

For having a new diagnosis I think I handled it pretty well. I usually freak out and drink too much. I must be getting used to this shit.

So, we now have Sjogren’s Syndrome, Lupus, Fibromyalgia, and Raynaud’s. I wonder how many more I can add before the end of the year.