The Green Smoothie

Finally got around to making a green smoothie, a perfect way for me to get my veggies into my busy, busy day.  It was great.  I am tempted to say it tastes like chicken, but it really tastes like banana, peanut butter and yogurt.  Other than the bright green color, I would never guess there was four cups of spinach in it!  My recipe was from the blog, Iowa Girl Eats, found here.

Also, I would like to add, I don't have a one of those $400 smoothie blenders either.   For the smoothie I just used what I had, a normal household blender.  It was not great, but it work!  So, I will make due, and just add a Ninja blender to my Amazon wishlist.  There is no need to have to have the best equipment before you start making green smoothies, just jump in and do it!

Canning

There is just something so satisfying about being close to your food - cooking, preparing and preserving the food your family intends to eat yourself. Recently a friend offered to teach me to can. It was so much fun, and not anywhere as complicated or hard as I expected it to be. Canning is actually quite simple. Here is a good website by Ball if canning is something you always wanted to do, but did not know where to start. It is no substitute for a friend to show you the ropes, but it does give what you need to know to start yourself if you do not have a canning buddy. It is also a good reference for beginners. However, I must say, canning with a friend is much more fun!

Milk Jug Igloo

This is one of those crazy, fun projects. It is cheap and great way to reuse materials. But it is a big one, so you will need a big space, like a basement playroom, or do it outside. I question how well it will work outside - strong winds? spider webs?

Another of my concerns is that yuck-yuck, rot dairy smell from the old milk containers. I would practice getting the smell out of one first milk jug. Also, don't forget you can use water gallon jugs, as well as orange juice, distilled water, ice tea, etc.

It looks complex, but probably the hardest, time consuming part is collecting and washing the milk jugs. Actually making the igloo seems like it would be a fun rainy day or weekend project. Usually I read directions about neat ideas like this one, and they seem way too complex or expensive (not to mention, leaving out a lot of practical information), but this project does seem doable if you have the materials and space.

This would make for excellent memories. First I have to see how much work goes into de-funking a old milk jug. If I did it, I would make the big one, 428 jugs, but I am crazy like that. I would have a slide down to our playroom if I could put one in. By my calculations, we would need about 40 families to give us 10 milk jugs. I can see my husband shaking his head at me right now.

Here is the link:

How to make your own milk jug igloo

Side note, sometimes we moms can be guilty of doing things like this instead of the things we are suppose to be doing, like laundry and discipling our kids. Build your milk jug igloo responsibly ;-)

Free Felt Food Tutorials

Here is a site with a long list of FREE felt food tutorials. The categories are broken up into fruit and veggies, sweets, pasta, eggs, containers and others.

This site has some great U Tube videos on how to make felt food, and they also sell kits. I want to make the Green Eggs and Ham kit to go with our book. It would make a great display in our book nook.

Little Brown Bird has some free how to felting tutorials and tips, as well as free patterns.

Confessions of a Homeschooler blog also has some free felt food ideas, but the first one listed on this post is the best I have seen so far.

My daughter and I are looking forward to making some projects together!

No Sew Felt Food: Cinnamon Buns

If you have been wanting to make felt food for your kids, but short on time or sewing skills or both, here is an easy no-sew project:

Felt Cinnamon Buns

Felt Food

No, I don't know where I will get the time, but I feel a urge to get in touch with my crafting side and make something with my hands that can double as a form of therapy to calm my frazzled nerves. Confessions of a Homeschooler has posted in the past about felt food. She has a link to a site with free patterns and instructions at Lit'l Brown Bird's Passion. Follow the links to view exactly what felt food is and how you go about making it.

Like most of you, I have a very limited amount of "me" time. While that being a good thing, it might take me months to make anything. The point is to refresh myself in a sufficient proportion to the work God has for me, so I am going to go for it anyway and at least I can say I tried it :-) If I do actually finish a felt food project, I will post a picture, though it may take me a few months to get the picture uploaded to the blog ;-)

Click the link here for instructions and tips on felting

Click the link here for free felt patterns and tutorials

Confessions of a Homeschooler has a whole section on her tool bar for felt food. You can find other free patterns from her posts.

A Laminator for a GREAT Deal!

Hi Friends,

I just had to tell you about this super deal that I saw over on Amber's blog. I've had this laminator in my Amazon shopping cart for a long time.  I finally bought it today because it's on SAAALE for a great price!  When you buy the laminator and a pack of 50 laminating sheets, you can send in a $20 rebate!  After the rebate, you get both items for only $21.49!!!  That's an amazing deal!  The offer is good until July 31.

I personally think that everyone should own a laminator... especially teachers and homeschoolers.  It's kind of addicting making all your papers shiny, don't you think?  Ooo, the possibilities!

Laundry Soap Update

My last batch lasted me 3 and half months and I have a top loader washing machine, which requires twice as much as a front loader. We do about 12 loads a week at least (3 of those are clothe diapers).

It is green (environmental) and saves you lots of money!

If you have not tried making your own laundry soap, here is the recipe I use from the Duggars':

Ingredients:

1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax

Instructions:

Grate the soap bar into a small saucepan. Cover with hot water*. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissolves.

Put washing soda and borax in a 5-gallon bucket. Pour in the hot, melted soap mixture. Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved. Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover securely, and let set overnight. The next morning, stir the mixture. Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in a smaller laundry-detergent dispenser or container. Shake before using.

For top-loading machines: Use 1 cup of the soap mixture per load.

For front-loading machines: Use 1/2 cup per load.

Here is my original post:

Homemade Laundry Soap

*On their family website they say 4 cups.

Homemade Laundry Soap

This post was on my idea list, so when I saw someone else blogged about it, it reminded me to post the recipe for homemade laundry soap. I have been making homemade laundry soap for almost a year. First I started with the dry mix, and then got brave enough to try the liquid, which is so much better. The liquid mixture will last you months. It will make enough detergent to fill 10 1 gallon bottles, and the ingredients cost about $5. The second time it will cost you only $1 for the Fels Naptha bar because you will still have borax and washing powder from your first time. All of the ingredients can be found at Shoprite in the laundry isle. To the right is a picture of the ingredients I found on the Internet. If you are anything like me, you will have no clue what in the world Fels Naptha is, much less what it looks like.

Some helpful tips:

• Found my 5 gallon bucket with at Wal-Mart in the hardware section near paint supplies.
  
• I use an old 1 gallon laundry bottle. Using a funnel and a fill line I marked on the bottle, I fill it half way with the solution and the rest with water. Then I shake well before each use.
• Add FEW drops of tea tree essential oil (Trader Joe's). I use this in my rinse cycle for cloth diapers and it gets ride of any smell and is a wonderful cleaning agent.
• It is not only clean, but also green! (as in environmentally friendly)
• I use a thin cut cheese grater shredding the bar, which I only use for granting soap.
• This is just so easy and is hands down the best homemade money saver.