August Is Done, Now For September Goals

I won't lie. August was a disappointing blogging month for me. Why? Well, I didn't get half the stuff done that I wanted to...and on top of that I either had laptop problems (the first two weeks) or I couldn't post (the last 4 days of the month). It was very aggravating.

Anyway, one goal I have for September is to have less than 30 draft posts at the end of the month. Is this possible? We will see... Right now I have 50 exactly and that's probably including this post that I am writing right now. Why do I want to do this? Because I don't like seeing all these posts there in the draft box. I need to wrap them up and get them out of there. For most of them there is no point in them sitting there half done.

Another goal I have for September is to do more refashions. A few days ago I went through all of the clothes I had in piles all over my floor. (It was to the point that I was walking on clothes to get anywhere in my room.) I looked at each thing and said, "is this something I will work on in the next month?" If I said no then I put it in a box to be stored for future use, but if I said yes it went in a separate box under my other sewing machine table. There are probably about 10 things in that box right now. I can say that I probably won't do all of them next month, but there's a high possibility that I'll work on a lot of them.

Also, for September, I plan to wrap up some of the loose ends I left in August. To be specific I would like to:

1. Get the Granola Bar recipe down. I have the flavor perfect but I can't seem to keep the bars from falling apart once they're made. Still needing some little changes made in the recipe. 

2. I have one more Life Goals post to make. I've made four of them, but I still have the most important one left: current goals.

3. The promised Bible study. It is so close to being done, I just have to make myself finish it and I plan to do that in September.

4. The post on how to take care of your nails. It is actually almost completely written, but my nails were not cooperating this past month. In the first week, while I was peeling apples, I accidently sliced off part of my nail on my left hand...and it has taken its sweet time growing out properly. I have got it even now, but it's not long at all. Anyway, this post will for sure be popping up in September.

5. The ranch dressing recipe. I was unable to make this for a lot of reasons, but I will try harder to make this recipe happen in September.

6. Get rid of 100 things. My sister actually joined me in this and we went 50/50 instead of 100 items. She got her 50 and so far I have found 26 items...I just need to find a few more and then I'll get this post out.

7. The arm workout. Complete fail! Ugh!! I think I only lifted weights three days and they were no where near close to each other. In order to pick up on this personal goal I have decided to use 3 lb. weights (which aren't in high demand around here) so I can leave them on my nightstand where I will see them minimum of two times each day and will have no excuse for forgetting to workout my arms.

8. Oh, and The Queen's Quilt is not done yet either. I don't know if I'll work on it very much in September...but honestly I should really be cracking down and wrapping it up. It's almost done...I've just been lazy.

9. Oh yes, and the blog button. Grrrr! I have tried writing that stupid code so many times it's not even funny! :( I am doing something wrong, but I seriously can't figure out what it is. I will keep trying and hopefully I will eventually get it.

September should be mostly a sewing month with a few recipes. I don't have big plans for cooking up anything new, but then I never know what I'll make when I end up in the kitchen! I do know that I plan to sew a lot so be looking for photo's of finished items and probably a few tutorials as well.

I hope that you all had a wonderful August! Mine really wasn't too bad all things considered. :)

Homemade Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

This is a 5 hour, crockpot recipe but it is worth the time it takes to cook! I love how delicious it is and I am so glad that everyone else who ate it liked it!

Ingredients

1/8 cup olive oil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes

5 15 oz. cans tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon garlic powder

2 Tablespoons onion powder

2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 bay leaves

1 large carrot or 5 baby carrots

Directions

1. Throw all the above ingredients in the crockpot. Turn on high and cook for three hours. Stir occasionally.

2. After three hours turn the crockpot to low and cook for the remaining two hours.

3. Remove the carrots before serving.

4. Serve hot over cooked spaghetti noodles or store in a container for later use.

Add Ins

2-3 lbs. cooked ground beef

1 jar of mushrooms

Notes

~Why carrots? Well they soak up the acid from the tomatoes making better sauce since they take out the bitterness the tomatoes present. I learned this trick from working at an Italian Restaurant.

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• Food On Friday: Sauces.

Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe is almost completely healthy. The only unhealthy thing in it is the butter. Salt is added because I've found this recipe tastes better with salt, but you can always take that ingredient out. This bread is delicious, healthy, and perfect as sandwich bread or a side to a meal.

My loaves would've been taller except I accidentally set a pan on top
of them after they finished rising and knocked down the risen loaves. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup of butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 Tablespoons wheat gluten (optional)

9 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups of warm water

2 Tablespoons of yeast

Flour for surface

Directions

1. In a microwave safe bowl put 1 1/2 cups water and butter. Microwave for 1 minute.

2. In a liquid measuring cup pour the yeast and 2 cups of warm water. Set aside.

3. Stir salt, egg, wheat gluten, and two cups of flour into the microwaved mixture.

4. Add yeast mixture to cooled butter mixture.

5. Mix in 2 cups of flour at a time. Remember you have already added two cups.

6. Divide the dough into two bowls. Set in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.

7. Divide the risen dough into four sections. Try to make them as even as possible.

8. On a floured surface roll out one section of dough at a time into a rectangle shape (don't worry about the shape being perfect).

9. Roll the dough up like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls.

10. Place in a greased bread pan.

11. Repeat steps 8-10 for the remaining three loaves.

12. Set the loaves in a warm dry place and cover them with a cloth or paper towel. Let them rise for 2 hours (yes it has to be two hours. Wheat flour takes longer to rise than white flour).

13. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees when the dough has filled the pan.

14. Bake the loaves for 20-25 minutes.

15. Let the loaves cool completely before putting them away. The loaves can be stored in a Ziploc and put in the freezer for future use.

Notes

~I was very surprised at how light these loaves were. I knew the white bread was good, but this is amazing!

~I really think the gluten made this recipe! I definitely suggest using it if you are going to attempt this recipe. I will try a batch without it and post the results in the future, but for now I suggest using it!

~I used "one loaf" worth of dough and made 12 delicious dinner rolls. Basically just roll out the dough and then cut it into 12 5 inch pieces. Roll each one up and plop it into a greased muffin tin. Let it rise for 30 minutes and then bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.

Homemade Almond Butter

I saw this on Pinterest about a month and a half ago and knew I needed to try it. I read about this recipe/experiment at Judicial Peach. The almond butter that my mom has purchased lately from WalMart runs about $5 for a 12 oz. jar. I wanted to attempt to make my own and see if it was better, cheaper, etc. Was the experiment successful? I think yes. This almond butter is so rich and delicious! I love the flavor and the texture. Even though it is not as smooth as the store bought kind I would prefer to make my own over buying it from the store.

Here is what I did. And it made 12 ounces of delicious homemade almond butter!

Ingredients

2- 2 1/2 cups almonds

2 Tablespoons honey (optional)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spread the almonds over an un-greased cookie sheet.

3. Bake the almonds for 15 minutes.

4. Let them cool for 5 minutes.

5. Pour the nuts into a food processer. Set a 5 minute timer and start blending. You may have to stop blending two or three times to get the clumps down to the blades again but don't stop the timer.

6. After the 5 minutes is up add in the honey and vanilla.

7. Set a 2 minute timer and let the food processer run. This time the mix will be a little clumpy looking, but it's fine.

8. Store in a good container. I used an old container I had from the store bought almond butter. I also had to mash the butter into the jar since it was clumpy. It is soft though so that's good.

9. Let the jar sit out on the counter for 2-3 hours before closing it and storing it in the fridge.

Notes

~I would assume the almond butter would stay good for AT LEAST two weeks.

Savings

It's been a really long time since I bought almonds because I buy the 48 oz. Member's Mark from Sam's (or rather my mom buys them...but still). Best I can remember it is about 14.50 for that bag. There are about 9 cups of nuts. Divide 14.50 by 9 that equals 1.611111... So $1.60 per cup of nuts. I used about 2 cups of nuts today in this mix that would equal about $3.00 for a 12 oz. jar of homemade almond butter. The store bought version (Maranatha Almond Butter) from WalMart? $4.50-5. So it's not a huge savings, but it is a savings AND I think the homemade stuff is a lot better. Try it out yourself and tell me which you like better: store bought or homemade.

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8 Recipes Using Apples

I have three neighbors and two grandparents with apple trees so I have been very busy peeling and cutting apples! For a few months I have been saving pins I found on Pinterest of different recipes calling for apples so I could try them. I am finally getting to taste some, and create a few of my own.

There have been so many apples that I had to work on a pile at a time. Here are a few things you can do with apples you may have:

1. Grandma Karon's Apple Pie. This is my recipe, but it was made for her.
2. Crockpot Apple Butter. So delicious you won't be able to stop eating it!
3. Fried Apples. A perfect addition to a morning breakfast.
4."Baked" Apple Oatmeal. The only difference between this and baked oatmeal is the fact that you can make it on the stove and there are no eggs in this recipe!
5. Cinnamon Apple Swirl Bread. I used my basic Sweet White Bread recipe to create this treat.
6. Apple Pecan Spice Bread. My recipe!
7. Oatmeal Apple Pancakes. I used my delicious Oatmeal Pancakes recipe and made a few small changes. These were a big hit!
8. Healthy Crockpot Apple Sauce. Nothing but apples in this!

There are a lot more things you can make with apples, but this is what I have done so far. I must say that the two recipes I've used the most were the apple pie and the apple butter.

Lets Talk About Hair | The Cold Water Trick

Cold water on hair is like conditioner. It smooth's your hair and (for me) helps the curls texture and bounce. Since I don't use any mouse or gel in my hair I have had to come up with other ways to keep it non-frizzy with pretty curls. Why do I not use those things? Well, first I don't like my curls to feel "crunchy" and second I don't like my hair to be sticky. So, in order to avoid these problems I have come up with other unique ways to fix my hair.

Why use cold water? Hot water can dry out your scalp and give you bad dandruff. No one ever wants to deal with that. Cold water hydrates your curls. Hydration and curly hair is so important because it helps keep it healthy.

How often should you use cold water? Honestly you should ALWAYS use cold water on your hair. When you do a regular hair washing and when you just need a lift to a bad hair day. Cold water is like magic to curls.

So, we've established that it's good to use cold water on your curls, and you should always use cold instead of hot water. Now how do we use this on a day when I'm not gonna wash my hair? Easy! Here are some basic directions for your first time...after that you can change it up to whatever works best for you.

1. Make sure your hair is tangle free (I use my fingers to get out any knots).

2. Stand next to the edge of the bath tub.

3. Turn the water on cold.

4. Flip your hair over into the tub and lightly soak your curls with the water. (Or if you want you can completely soak your hair, it just depends on how much time you have for air drying.)

5. Turn the water off and squeeze any excess water from your hair.

6. Wrap your hair up in a towel for 5-10 minutes to soak up any remaining water.

7. Take the towel off and run some leave in conditioner or other hair moisturizer (I don't always do this and my hair has turned out fine both ways).

8. Let your hair air dry and then fix as usual. The air drying part is important. Don't mess with your hair while it is drying so it won't be frizzy in the end, especially if you are going to wear your hair down.

This is the method I use when I do the cold water trick to tame my wild hair. I usual do this the day after I've washed my hair because once I sleep on washed hair it can get pretty wild. This helps my hair get the "just been washed and styled" look without actually washing it...which I love!

What tricks do you have for taming wild curls?

Blogging Problems

For some funky reason my Internet Explorer was not letting me write posts for any of my blogs the last few days. I sent feedback to Google but got nothing. Today would've been the 5th day but I remembered that when my Pandora stations quit working on Explorer I pulled it up on Google Chrome and it worked fine...thus I am back in the Blogging world! Thank you Jesus! I was about to go crazy.

I hate Chrome, but if I can blog I guess I will just have to deal with it.

Refashionista | Crop Those Sleeves Off!

I have had this shirt for years. It is one of my favorite shirts ever....but it had a problem. The sleeves were a little short, and the bottom part near my hand was really wide. Rolling up the sleeves was fine except they wouldn't stay that there. I finally decided it was time to fix this shirt so that I could wear it and not fuss with the sleeves.

I love this shirt now! I have two like this actually. The other one is black and you can bet I will be cutting the sleeves off that one soon as well.

What I Did
1. I used a measuring tape for sewing and figured out how long I wanted the sleeves to be.
2. I folded the shirt in half, laid the sleeves on top of each other. Laid the measuring tape over the sleeves and found where I needed to cut them.
3. After the sleeves were cut I used pins and folded the raw edge under and pinned it in place.
4. I carefully sewed the edges and then cut all the strings.

Ta Da!

Molasses Granola

I am a huge fan of black strap molasses. I was running out of the little bit I've had for years because I've been baking with it a lot here recently. Today I found some at a local store real inexpensive and was very excited! Some of my favorite recipes with molasses will be made now. One of my favorites is homemade granola with molasses. Normally I use my favorite recipe, but today I wanted to share with you this recipe as well so that you could have variation.

Ingredients

6 cups oats

1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons black strap molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

Additional

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped or sliced nuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Put the oats in a large bowl.

3. In a sauce pan put the oil, water, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and almond. Put on medium (7-8) heat and bring to a boil.

4. If you want nuts in your granola then add them to the oats. If you are adding raisins, then wait until the end or they will be nasty.

5. Once the liquid mix comes to a boil, take it off the stove.

6. Pour the liquid over the oats. Stir until all the oats are coated well.

7. This will fill about three cookie sheets with a thin layer of granola. Make sure to grease the cookie sheets before pouring the granola mix on it.

8. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. One pan on the bottom rack turned long ways, and two on the top rack.

9. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees and cook 10 more minutes.

10. Stir the granola. Take the pan from the bottom rack and put it on the top, put both the pans from the top rack and move them to the bottom. Bake 20 more minutes.

11. Remove from oven and let the granola cool.

12. Add in raisins before storing granola in an air tight container. I keep mine in the pantry.

Notes

~If you leave the granola in the oven at 350 degrees for more than 10 minutes then you will risk having a burnt flavor. Make sure to turn the oven down to 300 degrees right at 10 minutes.

Healthy Crockpot Apple Sauce

Making apple sauce in the crockpot really isn't very hard. Especially if you don't have a better way to make it. I do, but I have avoided it for no particular reason...it's called a Squeeze-O. However, I like the way the apple sauce tastes when it has been cooking a good portion of the day in the crockpot. This recipe is healthy because you don't add a single thing to it! All thats in it is apples.

Ingredients

20-50 apples

Directions

1. Peel the apples

2. Chop the good part of the apple off the core. Throw the good parts in an empty and clean crockpot.

3. Once all the apples are ready, turn the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours. Make sure to check on it and stir the apples regularly.

4. Once the apples are falling apart and can be made into a mush it is time to turn off the heat. Remove the lid and let it sit for an hour or so to cool.

5. Stick the covered crockpot in the fridge overnight.

6. In the morning store the sauce in Ziploc bags or another container. I stored 2 1/2 cups each in a quart size bag and then laid it out on a pan and put it in the freezer so we could have apple sauce once the apples are gone.

Other Apple Recipes: Apple Breakfast Cake, "Baked" Apple Oatmeal, Grandma Karon's Apple Pie, Crockpot Apple Butter, Fried Apples, Apple Pecan Spice Bread, Apple Oatmeal Spice Drop Cookies, Apple Oatmeal Breakfast Cake, Apple Raisin Bran Muffins, Cinnamon Apple Swirl Bread, Apple Oatmeal Pancakes, Healthy Applesauce Muffins, Apple Pecan Cake, Healthy Crockpot Applesauce.

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• Food On Friday: Sauces.

Gah! Planning a Wedding Is Hard!!

Where are the best friend's when you need them? Over 200 miles away and busy working... grr. I am trying to figure out some wedding details to find an average cost. This is my first time ever and I'm finding it much more difficult than I had imagined. I will have 2-4 bridesmaids, I know the flowers I want, I have my dress plan figured out (I'm making it!) and I know the main color is going to be midnight blue. Why does everything else have to be so hard?

If you have any ideas which may help I'd sure love to hear them!! Also, to view what I've kind of pulled together so far you can check out my Pinterest board When We Get Married. Of course, I've posted a few photos here (only the ones with links are linked the others were link-less...sorry!). Make sure to leave some comments please!

Flowers



Baby's Breath

Lavender

White Orchids

I plan to have my mother arrange my wedding bouquet. She has always done well doing that sort of thing whereas I am terrible at it.... This is my inspirational photo for what I would like my wedding bouquet to look like. I don't think I will be using white roses though. The flowers above will be included.



Isn't it beautiful! I'm thinking of wrapping the stems with a matching midnight blue ribbon.

And for the bridesmaids I would like to do a mix of the lavender and baby's breath, also tied with ribbon.

Bridesmaids dresses/hair
I would love to be able to make dresses for the bridesmaids. I just don't see that happening since they all live in different states and none of them are anywhere close by. I would like each dress to be a different style. I want them to be modest. High neck and the length long...possibly at the floor, although I'm not against it being at knee length. I also would like elbow length sleeves. I have a lot of ideas pinned on that board, but these are my top three favorite.



Bloomingdales. This dress, however, is no longer available.

Jen Clothing. This dress runs at about $60 a piece and only comes in large and extra-large.



Shabby Apple. $94. Sizes 0-16.

All of the girls I want to have as bridesmaids have hair that is mid back or longer. I would like to have their hair done up in pretty styles. I have a few ideas, but I'm not really picky in this area.

 

 



I also love the hair pieces and will probably make that myself since that is something I love to do.


My wedding dress idea
I have the dress itself planned out, but it takes five photos for you to even begin to see what it will look like.



The end result of the skirt part should have the basic shape like the one in this photo.

I love the layered look of this lace, however, because of time,
 I may end up using just one piece of lace instead of many pieces.

The smooth ribbon around the waist, under the
bust is beautiful and something I want on my dress.

I love the bust and neckline of this dress.
This dress can be viewed at Utah Bride & Groom.

And finally the sleeves, elbow length and lace.

The men
I would love a beige suit on the men, but Autry doesn't like that look so I think we will be doing the normal black tux. I do think I want to use midnight blue tie's for the men and of course boutonnieres. The ring bearer is his nephew who is two at the moment. He will wear a tux, and we are going to use a Bible to 'carry the rings' on. (I am thinking his uncle's Bible because it is special to him.)

Everything else
So far everything else is just up in the air and I don't know how I'm going to piece it together. If you have any suggestions, ideas or photos please link them below and I'd love to check them out! Thanks!

Thrift Store Finds | August 24 of 12

I had a wonderful day in the thrift store the other day, as usual! I found so many good dishes! One more thing checked off the list of what I need for when I get married. Well, mostly checked off...I have enough to get started but I'm still gonna be looking for more.

In my kitchen I want to do a mix match of all sorts of white colored dishes with no floral or fruit designs. I will take stripes and ridges though. Here is a photo of all the dishes I collected today for less than $8!

3 tumblers, 1 tall glass, a big mixing bowl, a clear serving plate.
Basket weave plate and bowl; a large serving plate, another dinner plate, two bowls
A butter dish, 4 small desert plates, and 3 smooth bowls.

Only two of the dishes have a label on them so I wasn't able to look up the others, but those with the label I looked up on Google. I made quite the haul. Here are my photos and then a link to where I found the same dishes for a crazy amount more.

This is a Shenango China dinner plate in Classic Ivory. I found four
of these same plates on Etsy for $15.99.
I paid $0.50 for this plate.

This has a basket weave design similar to the one I found at Kmart which is no longer available.
I paid $0.50 each for the plate and matching bowl.

My favorite find were these 4 Myott Meakin China desert plates. Style MYM8.
I found 8 of them on Ebay for $19.99! Huge savings here! Since I $0.25 each!

Here are a few more photos of the other dishes I found. I paid $0.50 cents for each.

Two beautiful scalloped edge bowls.

3 smooth and fairly shallow bowls.

The butter dish was $0.25 which was a great find! It is exactly what I wanted: big enough to hold a stick of butter, small enough to not take up a lot of space.

Oh and that big glass serving bowl? It's Pyrex! I paid $1.00 for it while the one I found on Ebay is $5.99!

Not only did I find a lot of good dishes, I also found some more cardigans and a beautiful Maurices shirt! Each one was $3.00.

Faded Glory. Coral cropped sleeve cardigan.
I'm not sure if the scrunched sides will be staying, but this color is amazing!



Faded Glory. Light gray thin cardigan. Perfect for early fall and spring.
I will be making this into a cropped sleeve cardigan soon.

Croft & Barrow. Dark gray, really thick cardigan. Perfect for winter!
I may be adding some decor to this, but then again I may not.

Maurices. Burnout style shirt, perfect for layering!

The Best Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This recipe is not my own, but I have used it for several years and it really is the best recipe ever! I call it a basic recipe because you can add in little things to change it into a different flavor cookie. For example, use butterscotch chips instead of chocolate and you have butterscotch cookies! Or you can use Andes mint pieces and have a chocolaty mint cookie. There are so many possibilities with this recipe. It is truly delicious!

Makes 5 1/2-6 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed well

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (12 oz.) package semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup of nuts, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a small bowl put the flour, and baking soda.

3. In a microwave safe bowl, put the butter and both sugars. Microwave for a minute or until the butter is really soft.

4. Mix the butter and sugars well. Add in eggs and vanilla.

5. Pour the flour mix into the butter mix. Stir really well.

6. Add in the chocolate chips and nuts (if you use them). Stir until well blended.

7. Using a small spoon, scoop out bits of the dough. You can roll it into balls to make pretty cookies, or you can just plop it on a greased cookie sheet right from the spoon. 15 per greased cookie sheet.

8. Bake in oven for 11-15 minutes.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for 3 minutes.

10. Remove from the pan and place on a cooling rack or plate to finish cooling.

11. Store in an air tight container.

Homemade Whitening Toothpaste

I am the Queen of White Teeth! I spent most of my senior year whitening my teeth just cuz and ever since I am always trying something new to keep them white. So far I have used to packages of Crest whitening strips (6 months between each set), and for the past year or so I've been using Crest whitening toothpaste to keep up the whitening I paid so much for.

Whitening strips are not my favorite things, but I have been known to use them to keep my teeth white. Recently my goal has been to come up with something a whole lot less expensive which basically does the same thing. I think I have landed on a frugal winner!

I was using the Crest toothpaste mentioned above, but not noticing the results I thought I would see. I read somewhere that you could use straight peroxide to whiten your teeth (since that is the main ingredient in whitening strips after all). I started brushing my teeth with the toothpaste and then brushing my teeth with peroxide. However, brushing my teeth twice was something that was getting old fast and I needed a new remedy.

I read a few articles about using peroxide and baking soda together. None of the articles said it was a bad idea so I decided to give it a try. I have been very pleased with the results of how clean my teeth feel and how a good long time after I've brushed my teeth my breath still feels fresh. This is a huge bonus for me since I am one of those people who will run and brush their teeth in order to avoid bad breath. I might be slightly paranoid about bad breath, but I don't consider that a bad thing.

After a little experimentation, and a week of using the experiment, I am now proud to tell you that I have a wonderful homemade whitening toothpaste for you to try! I will warn you: the mix has a really strong salty flavor which will take some getting used to, and you will have an excess of liquid in your mouth so stay close to the sink to spit often. Oh yes, and if you don't like the flavor of peppermint, you can always try a different flavor from the baking section at WalMart. I love peppermint so that's why I chose it for me.

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Hydrogen Peroxide
1 teaspoon Peppermint extract (or another flavor)

You need a PLASTIC container to store the toothpaste in. The mix will erode anything with paint on it!

1. Put the baking soda and peroxide in the container. Add the extract.
2. Stir the ingredients together. It will make a smooth, slightly liquid paste.

To Use
~Dip your toothbrush in the paste and brush your teeth like usual.
~You can also run your toothbrush under the water before dipping it in the paste.
~After you brush your teeth with the paste, brush your teeth and tongue with just water to get all the baking soda off everything.
~Make sure to rinse your mouth out really well to get rid of all the baking soda bits.

Notes
~I tripled this recipe for myself for one week. I still have a good bit left.
~I did notice that if I got the mix on my lips I would have to use Vaseline to keep them from drying out, but this doesn't happen often.
~The plastic container is really important!
~I kept my toothpaste stored in my bathroom cabinet and it seemed to do just fine.
~Read this post written on September 8, 2012 to see the major difference this toothpaste made on my teeth!

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• Furgal Days, Sustainable Ways #48
• Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays #5
• Wow Us Wednesday #24
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Wednesday Weekly Review #5

Man I had this all ready to go Monday but had to wait...and by the time Wednesday got here I completely forgot to post this! :( Anyway, here it is! I have found a lot of new Apostolic blogs in the last two weeks. I am putting together a post with all of them. In the meantime, here are two new blogs I've found and enjoy!

1. I started following Wunderbar!

Kaitlin is a refashionista who loves to sew and do crafts. She has a lot of wonderful ideas and tutorials. One of my favorites is A Skirt From Two Shirts. I will be on the look out for the perfect shirts for this project!

2. I started following Two Butterflies!

I found this blog full of refashions and sewing tutorials via the list of fashionistas!

3. Reviving a post from the past!

Homemade Laundry Soap! This recipe costs less than 5 dollars for the whole 5 gallons of soap that it makes! Not only that, but there is plenty of several of the ingredients to make the soap 3-4 more times. Check out this recipe and see how you can start saving money in a huge way!

Featured? Grab a Button!

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Peeling Tomatoes for Canning or Freezing

Last week my mom showed me this lovely way to easily peel tomatoes. I was very impressed and thought I should share this technique with you all. This is a great way to easily peel a large amount of tomatoes for canning or freezing for later use. I know summer is pretty much over, but some of you may still have tomatoes.

Here goes...

1. Rinse the tomatoes.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
3. Have a bowl of cold, cold tap water and pour a ton of ice in it.

4. Drop the tomatoes in the hot water and let them sit for 2-3 minutes.

5. Using something to scoop them out, take the tomatoes from the hot water and drop them immediately into the ice cold water.

6. Remove the tomatoes from the cold water.

7. Peel the tomatoes. You might want to use a knife to get it started, but the rest of the peel will come right off.

8. Cut out the middle piece at the top.

9. Now you have a tomato ready to be cooked, or diced, or canned, or frozen!

Notes
~You can do as many tomatoes at a time as long as they fit nicely in the pot for hot water and the ice water.
~This system also works well for peaches. Post coming with exact directions as there are a few things you do different when peeling peaches.

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