Oh No, more cats A good recipe for laundry detergent

Lillie has been trying to catch the cat in the cabinet for a couple of weeks now. I find her there many times a day. But the last few days she found there are more of those awful critters in the house. First I found her on the cupboard in the guest bathroom, batting at the cat in the mirror, then yesterday she found one in the reflection of the glass door on my space heater, the one that resembles a fireplace. So far she has had no luck getting any of them, but it keeps her busy.  I wonder if she is frustrated or just curious, she spends a lot of time  hunting these days.  The space heater has been much help these past weeks, we are much colder than normal here, as are a lot of areas. My sis is visiting Florida for a break from Nebraska's chill, and finding it cold there to, winter coat weather and in the 40s her first week there. The snow we had is finally melting away, maybe the kids will get back to school next week.  They are enjoying a lot of days off but will have to make them up somewhere. I am annoyed by an add for Cheerios I keep seeing, they use kids in their ad and say how Good goes around and around, and this cereal is so good for kids. Nope.  Their products are made from GMO grown crops so your babes are eating  glyphosate, and a host of brain and body damaging poisons if you allow them to have  it. Just a few steps down the cereal isle there will always be a section of organic products, and the cheerio like ones taste even better, are quite cheap and keep your kids from cancer, brain damage and other bad stuff.  Even the milk you put on cereal has to be watched, it is laden with hormones and anti- biotics, causing  our young girls to hit puberty at age 8 or less now, and the organics are  kind of under fire as not being truthfully labeled.  There are good alternatives, many organic plant milks, I have been using them since the 80's, and now find yogurt and other non dairy organic  things in the cases. Yea. Have you seen the stories this week about kids deciding to taste the Tide pods and other laundry pods? It can do them in, quite a serious problem.  I make my own soap, its inexpensive, and does a great job. In the laundry aisle you will find large boxes of laundry soda and Borax, about 3 and a half pounds each. And a bar of Fels Naptha soap. In an airtight container, mix the soda and Borax and grate the bar of soap,  I have a scoop that measures a heaping tablespoon, its enough for most loads. If you have a huge load or very dirty  one you may add 2 scoops. This is about 7 cents  a load, and lasts most people a very long time, there is only one of me so its about a years supply. I also make a spot remover that 's as good as any on the market, I think better. Mix equal parts of hydrogen peroxide and water 1/2 cup) and add 1 teaspoon of Dawn.  Keep in a spray bottle, spray stain, let sit overnight and wash.  I am all about taking the chemicals out of my home.  I had to have a cat put down that got very sick, the vet told me the Febreze spray I used on furniture etc had caused his illness. Makes you think.  I am hoping to get into  changing lifestyle to green with you in coming blogs.  Til then, stay warm, read labels and stay well.

Oh No, There's a cat in the Cupboard

In the corner of my kitchen dining room, is a cabinet that was my mom's. It's tall, square, has a mirrored back and lights. It is holding all the dishes that belonged to my grandmothers.  From Gramma Sharp's wedding crystal to a large assortment of cut glass bowls, trays and dishes. And the wedding dishes that were Pat's and mine, a lovely set of cranberry glass  dishes.  A few days ago, Lillie our year old rescue kitty, discovered that a strange cat was hiding in this cabinet. She has spent many hours trying to go under, through and around to get to that irritating creature.  She goes under the couch in the front room and sneaks out hoping to catch it, sometimes she sits on the back of the couch and finds that darn cat has moved up to a higher shelf.  I tried getting a video but as soon as the camera is out, Lillie just sits and watches me.  It's very funny tho, she really thinks she can get that elusive kittie in the cupboard. So now I have a weird cardinal that watches herself in my car mirrors, and a cat that has an enemy in the kitchen cabinet.   We just came through a period of about 4 days in the upper 60's, really nice after that very cold spell. Yesterday a front came through and dropped the temps back into the freezer. We have a few cold days coming up again. Maybe not as long this time.  Have you tried tea tree oil yet?  There are so many good uses for it. I add it to  my mouthwash(home made) and to my cleaners. My standard cupboard, sink tub etc cleaner is 2/3 white vinegar, 1/3 water, a few drops of Dawn and a good amount of tea tree oil. I add scent too, my fave is citrus so usually lemon. I just got some grapefruit oil so will be trying that out next. This mixture kills as many germs as clorox or lysol without being  toxic. Very safe around pets, babies and you. Kills 99% of germs. Tea trees grow in Australia. They have a pleasant aroma. You can use it straight on a cut as a disinfectant but its strong so  I add a few drops of essential or carrier oil to it. It is considered to be an antifungal, antimicrobial substance. If you want to make a salve, you can melt 1/2 cup grated beeswax, add 1/2 cup of organic olive oil and 30 drops of tea tree oil. Pour into a glass jar and use as a salve for scrapes, cuts etc.   It has been used this way or straight to get rid of toe nail fungus and athletes foot.   Mom's Christmas cactus is blooming profusely, it started a few days before Christmas and  in the past keeps going until close to the first of April. Its huge, I need to split it down come spring. Looking for a home for a couple good sized plants.   The seed catalogs have begun arriving, I am starting to figure out what I want in my garden next spring. I do buy organic seeds, no GMO crap here. I am upset that President Trump is talking with Monsanto, does he have no idea what their poison sprays do to us and our country? The Dicamba he recently approved is killing trees. And more bees and insects too I would guess.  If we allow this to keep on, and kill our bees, butterflies, and now hummingbirds are being found dead, we will loose our pollinators and our ability to grow crops that have blooms. We all need to try and eat organic foods, it makes a big difference in your health, and we can push  the big six, Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Dupont and Dow out the door. So many other countries are doing this, they value the good health of their people. Why do we want hospitals full of kids with cancer, and oldsters with Alzheimers? and aches and pains out the wazoo for so many who have no clue what their food is doing to them. In case you do not know, milk is full of anti biotics and hormones, and we are pushing our little girls into puberty at very young ages by  making them drink milk. Plant based milks are so much safer. I hate to see 9 year olds at the point we used to not see til our girls were in their early teens.  Make a difference this week, buy at least a few organic groceries, make a house hold cleaner, and do what you can to help our world be a better place for all of us. take care, stay warm, share hugs and love, they are free.

8 days in

2018 is only 8 days in and already a mixed bag.  Last summer I had septic tank woes, had to have all the fruit trees pulled out and the tanks, a series of 3, cleaned out. Cost a bunch, thanks to my sons, they loaned me the money to pay for the repairs. I am getting down to the last 4 payments to each of them to pay it off. So yesterday, Doug was out in his yard and heard something. Found water spewing out from under my house.  Turned off the water to the house, didn't stop the water. Ended up having to shut off the well pump. Did get a plumber, nice young man from Iowa to come out this morning and repair the damage, it was a broken water pipe to my outside hose, nothing to do with the house.  Not too pricy. BUT, he found another problem, the sewer line to the septic tank has sprung a leak.  It's too cold to dig it up right now, and I will have to figure out how to pay for that anyway. So it seems the prolonged very cold weather is doing a lot of bad things to a lot of people.  And Doug's truck clonked out on him on the way to town this morning, after just having it repaired a week or two ago.   Well, there have been good things too, like the week before Christmas, I got a message saying my kids in NE were sending a package I was to watch for, the Saturday before  the holiday, they said they had mailed it late but expedited shipping had been applied. So I watched., It was getting late, and I decided to go to bed. There was a knock on the door, I hurried out to open it, package had arrived. There stood Brian, Erin and Sammy, smiling from ear to ear, I should have picked up on some of the clues but didn't.  One of the best holiday surprises ever, so glad to see them.  They left just ahead of this really cold weather. I have not been out to shop or to church since mid December. Hoping to get out the next few days as we should hit 61 by Thursday.   I want to ask a question. Have any of you entered the Publishers Clearing House contest?  Figured what the heck, the money would sure help pay off all these bills, couldn't hurt so I entered on line. And promptly started getting emails out the yazoo, do this, order that, search for this. After a few days I got sick of it and unsubscribed and added them to the junk mail list. How come you can;t just enter the contest and be done with it? They bug you incessantly. I wonder if anyone ever won anything really or they just use shills to say they won.  Now you are warned. And if you won or know someone who did, I would like to know. Thank You. The kids in our area got an extra long Christmas vacation, still out, we were to have an ice storm today, we did not get it here , just rain. It didn't start raining til late morning and the temps had warmed up by then. Thankfully. Lots of days left in 2018, wonder what they will hold.  Guess we will find out. Long cold winter?  (Global warming)  Anyway, our winters tend to end in March for the most part, have daffodils along the roads and forsythia blooming by then so we are only 8 weeks away from that. Planning to stock up on things I can eat til spring if need be.  Stay warm, hope you have nicer weather  coming  to you too.  Who knows what this new year will bring, hope lots of good things.