Gross Things-(Final) Volume 4

Today will be the last installment of “Gross Things”.
(Go here for Gross Things-Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3). Most of the flooring in our home are hard surfaces-either wood, tile or concrete. With two cats, my long hair and Bicep’s penchant for cutting his hair at home, the hard surfaces are a breeding ground of grossness.

This scene is underneath my sewing cabinet in my office. Thank you Max and Bianca for spreading your white fur wherever and whenever possible.

Just one time on my desk, and I know you’ve been there, fuzzy white cats. Thank you for leaving behind these little keepsakes for me.

Just a few moments of dust mopping, and I can tell where your favorite spots in the house are. Underneath the couch, underneath my desk and underneath the stereo cabinet seem to be popular locations.

Those remnants of where you have been napping are a bit like a game of hide and seek for me.

How sweet of you to play such a fantastically furry game with me, kittens. You are so tender. And so furry.

This has been the last installment of “Gross Things-Volume 4”. Unless I find something else that’s gross and I just can’t keep it to myself….

Easy Laundry Soap

My month long challenge of slowly ridding our house of nasty chemicals began several weeks ago. My first item to replace was my face lotion. I created a Recipe for Facial Moisturizer  and secondly, I wanted to replace my dishwasher detergent DIY Organic Dishwasher Detergent. This last week, I shared a replacement for face wash with my Cheap, Organic Face Wash recipe.

I am concocting my own household replacements with little more than what I have on hand or what I can find at the organic market.

But the replacements must meet or exceed three important expectations for this frugal gal:
1. It must be easy to replace-no beakers or science lab experiments. Thank you.
2. It must be just as good or better than the current product I’m using and,
3. It must cost the same or less than the current product I’m using.

photo source unknown

If the product I create passes the final test-me using it for over two plus weeks to make sure it does its job-then I’ll be sharing it with you. I will break down the cost for you, provide you the recipe and give you my honest opinion of the final product.

I’ve seen a million recipes for laundry soap floating around the world wide web (as my mother calls it). I wanted to try one on my own, tweak it a little, test it out and compare it to what I’m already using. I also hadn’t seen an easy way to grate the soap, so I got a little crazy with my Oster blender.

I hope you enjoy my Easy Laundry Soap recipe.

With three ingredients, your store bought laundry soap can easily be replaced with a homemade version that will cost you only $.05 per load. And, you can store it in a cute jar with your own hand-written label. I think that’s pretty much a win-win.

What you’ll need to make your very own Easy Laundry Soap (this makes approx. 48 loads):

1 Bar (5.5 oz approx.) Fels-Naptha, Zote Soap or Ivory Soap
2 C Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (make sure it says “Super Washing Soda”)
2 C Borax
Blender/Food Processor

Cut the soap into manageable pieces for the food processor/blender. Use the finest chopping blade available, making the pieces as small as possible.

Add the 2 Cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda to the grated Zote or Ivory Soap.

Next, dump in the 2 Cups of Borax. Mix everything as much as possible with a wooden spoon.

If the pieces are large, transfer a cup at a time of the mixture back into a blender. Blend thoroughly. I have settled on using Fels-Naptha soap, which grinds down to small pieces the first time around. So, I no longer need to do this step.

The mixture should look like this when everything has been blended thoroughly.

Transfer the mixture into a cute jar or container. Add a label (I always print the recipe on the label to make it easier for refills when the time comes).

Use 1/8 Cup of the mixture for normal loads and 1/4 Cup for heavily soiled clothes.

Here’s the financial breakdown of what this recipe will make per 48 loads:

Borax $3.38 for 76 oz= 9.5 Cups
A & H $3.00 for 55 oz= 6.8 Cups
Soap $1 per 48 loads

Per 48 Loads
Borax=$.67
A & H=$.90
Soap=$1

Total=$2.57/48 loads= $.05 per load

Garden & Landscaping Preparations

It’s almost time to begin sowing those seeds, ladies! Weeks before the planting season, I request my favorite seed catalogue from “Gurney’s” and pore over it as some women do shoe advertisements.

Visions of green beans, spinach and tomatoes are dancing in my head.

I even make an excel spreadsheet of what I hope to buy, determine the planting date, harvest date and if it’s better to buy the full plant or the seeds.
It gets pretty technical, but I love a good excel spreadsheet-reminds me of my accounting days….awe…

I narrow down my needs vs. wants using a system of highlighting, page marking and price comparison shopping. Tomatoes are the most difficult thing for me to narrow down. I could plant every variety that Oklahoma allows and still not have enough.

The tabs at the top are rearranged and my poor Biceps has to hear about the latest string bean that sounds interesting over and over.

This year, I’m going to plant a cover crop. I thought I would use a winter rye-but have decided to go with a clover. A cover crop is helpful to prevent erosion over the winter/spring season and also provides green manure for next year’s garden.

Also, this year we are going to finally landscape the naked front of our house. I would love to have an almond tree, several types of grasses, lavender, and two large oak trees out front.

It would look something like this if a second grader got ahold of markers and my computer screen.
Now, to just get Biceps on board with all of this. I think a romantic dinner, a massage and a discussion of seedlings, plants and trees are in his future….

Cats on the Counter, Training Help?

Dear Readers:
I need your help in the cat training department. It may seem surprising to tell you these kittens aren’t perfect. And yes, they are so cute it’s hard to believe they don’t obey my every command. In fact, their cuteness is the only thing keeping them around sometimes-to be honest.

Max gets a kick out of knocking the mannequin heads off of the fireplace mantel. Bianca has literally figured out how to turn on the kitchen sink faucet and sets up camp in the sink to drink to her little heart’s content. (She has a dish of fresh water each day, but this apparently isn’t good enough.)

This is how our discipline began with the tender kittens: A firm “NO” and a finger wag.
This did absolutely nothing.

Second came the squirt bottle. Initially, they didn’t like it and would run for the hills. But, then they got used to being hosed and held their ground as I sprayed them directly in the face during their naughty escapade.

We have since upgraded to an air horn. It’s ear splitting and I hate to use it-mostly because it deafens me and I know the neighbors can hear it. (I’m sure they just chalk it up to “those weird Greimans”.)
I think the cats are getting used to this, too.

For example, I have been sick for the last few days. The house was suddenly too quiet. I forced myself out of bed to find Max lounging on the kitchen counter and he was watching Bianca licking water from the faucet. They saw me-air horn and all, but went right on with what they were doing. I honked the air horn and both kittens scattered off into the living room-but were right back in position maybe 5 minutes later.

So, dear readers: how do you train your cat? I need some suggestions before I go crazy.