Recipes and more recipes, repellants, cleaners and more

Spring left this week, the hotter more humid days have come. Not a bad thing, I enjoy warmer weather, not 100 degrees maybe but winter is not my favorite season. We are being warned that Zika mosquitoes are in our area, to take precautions when working outside. Seems skeeters hate lemon in any form. We have lemon balm growing in the yard, and I have lemon verbena in the house. Tucking springs in your shoes, pockets, hat brims and even creating a lei of the leaves to go around your neck is great protection. If you don't have any of these, you might try cutting a lemon and rubbing it on your skin before heading out. Picked up a tip for lip balm this week, if you make it yourself and want color, try powdered dried raspberries. We all are becoming aware that toothpaste and mouthwash have things in them that are not good for us. I am buying toothpaste for sensitive teeth from Swanson now, but mouthwash is simple to make. 2 cups of water, 5 drops of clove oil, 5 drops of cinnamon oil, 5 drops of peppermint oil, and 5 drops of lemon or tea tree oil, keep in a bottle , shake before use.. From Grit magazine, a recipe for fly repellent, lavender, basil or mint all work, tie in bundles and hang in areas that are prone to flies, inside or out. If you are unfortunate enough to suffer migraines, try 1 cup of water, one lemon, juiced, and 2 teaspoons of Himalayan pink salt mixed, stir, drink, ahh, relief. Got corn on the cob? Have you tried this? Cut off the stem end, wrap in two layers of wet paper towels(leave husk on) and lay around the edge of your microwave plate. Nuke 1 and 1/2 minutes, turn over, nuke 1 and 1/2 more minutes, let sit 5 minutes and just slide the husk, silk and all right off. Easy. I found a good recipe for tub and tile cleaner on one of my favorite sites, DIY natural. In a spray bottle, put 1 cup white vinegar, and 4 T dish soap, swish, then add 10 drops tea tree oil, 10 drops eucalyptus oil. A dark bottle is best for this . Shake well before spraying on tub, tile etc, let sit 10 minutes and wipe off with clean towel. And last, I love this for freshening up carpet, it won't clean much but sure makes it smell nice. !/2 cup of cornstarch, 2 cups baking soda, 1 T ground cloves, and 4 leaves of crumpled Bay. Mix in a shaker can and sprinkle liberally over carpet, let set one hour, then vacuum as usual. I have old Parmesan containers that work really well for this kind of mix. In fact since I learned that Parmesan is laced with wood shavings to stretch it, I have quit eating it. Buy a chunk and grate it yourself so you know what you are eating, I can almost taste the wood now that I know about it, dumped out my last round. Been out early this am watering, cleaning the bird bath and enjoying the cool morning before the heat starts. Hope you are having great weather where you are, so much bad stuff right now, tornadoes, floods etc. Have a great Memorial day week end, see ya soon.