Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for September, 2010

I’ve tried growing cilantro and I’m no good at it. At least from seed. So I end up having to buy it in the store. The problem is the big bunches go bad really quickly and I only like to grocery shop once a week…well lately it’s been twice because I frequent an organic grocery store and my regular Freddy’s.

So! What’s a girl to do….

Well I went with washing, pinching off the leaves and tossing them with a dash of olive oil to keep separate. Then I froze them in a freezer bag. I didn’t have that much to freeze.

Freezing Cilantro

Picking, Drying, Freezing How to Preserve Summer’s Herbs

Giveaway has ended.

I know another giveaway. But I had to. This one I’m doing personally because I love the author and I’m just tickled with his latest work.

First of all I just love this Big Rigs: A Truck Coloring Book for Kids because it is so perfect for a truck loving child and has the added benefit of being a bit of a teaching tool where trucks are concerned.

Do you have a child that calls out the grills, headlights, and whatnots on passing trucks as you motor along the roadway on your daily jaunts?

Big Rigs: A Truck Coloring Book for Kids is just for him (or her as in my case). 31 pages of simple but detailed truck descriptions and coloring pages.

Each set of truck pages includes an informational paragraph about the truck to be colored.

What it looks like and how it is used.

Learn vocabulary words such as Tractor, and Refrigerator.

The front of the book has a simple vocabulary list so your child knows what is being talked about it the descriptive paragraphs.

These truck coloring pictures were drawn by a young boy (now shortly to be a young man) who loves his trucks and it shows.

And now there is a new book in town A Day in the Life of a Trucker.

Our author of Big Rigs has grown up a bit and wants us to meet Tim, a fictional trucker, and color his day. Each page in this coloring book is lovingly hand drawn (he really likes trucks) and shows the detail of great trucks of the road.

Visit Free Truck Coloring Pages to find out more about each book and download free printable coloring page samples

Giveaway

One incredibly lucky person will win a copy of  A Day in the Life of a Trucker.

Leave me a comment about someone you know (or you) who would like a copy of this book (of course personal details kept to a minimum).

Open to US addresses only

You will need to supply me with your mailing address so don’t enter if you’re not comfortable with that.

Giveaway ends October 8th Midnight.

I love having a fresh smelling home. I love perfume. Green scents and floral scents are my favorite. Occasionally a spicy scent will catch my attention. In the natural arena I gravitate towards lavendar (I spell it lavendar not lavender) and eucalyptus.

So it’s no surprise that I have purchased a few reed diffusers (do you know what those are). I do love the way they perfume a large area but I have run into two problems. First I purchased a low cost one and while it sent out a nice sent initially as after a day or so I could smell nothing. Surprisingly they had liquid in them for quite some time but no longer gave out a sent after a few days. So I upped the ante and spent a bit more at a luxury store for a lovely fresh smelling one. The scent was stronger and it did last for the life of the liquid…BUT the liquid ran out much quicker and for that price I thought it may be time for me to look into making my own. (If you’re curious I purchased it at Nordstrom and shocked my mother at the price).

So off to the internet searching for reed diffuser recipes I went. And here is what I found…BTW I’m making lavendar

Tipnut had some great ones

I purchased my supplies from Snowdrift Farms which also has recipes.

If you still want to buy a good one French Soaps is having a sale on Durance products and their reed diffusers seem of good quality. I gave one to my aunt for her birthday. This was in July. She keeps it in her bedroom. Whenever I go to her home  and she opens her bedroom door rose scent wafts all over the house. It smells lovely. Look under Clearance, Durance and Scented Bouquet.

This GIVEAWAY has ended. The winner is #5 Elizabeth

Still in need of some school supplies or after school snacks for your kiddos? Well I have another giveaway for you.

This fall, Totino’s is also helping to support your child’s school. Totino’s Party Pizzas will now carry Box Tops for Education! Now through September 15, Totino’s is offering two Box Tops for Education on every Totino’s product. Totino’s is also giving away 10,000 Bonus Box Tops, school supplies and free Totino’s snacks to eight lucky schools through the “Make School a Better Place Sweepstakes!”(I know this is tomorrow). To enter visit here.

One lucky winner will receive a prize pack including a backpack and school supplies, a coupon for Totino’s® Party Pizza® and Pizza Rolls® Snacks, as well as 25 Bonus Box Tops.

This is a quick one that will end on Friday September 24th at midnight.

To enter:

Leave me a comment offering what tips you have to make surviving the back to school season easier? Or what kinds of things do your kids like to snack on after school.

I will pick the winner via Random.org (my lovely assistant needs her school and beauty sleep).

U.S. entries only please

You will need to provide a mailing address so please do not enter if you are not comfortable with that.

The supplies for this giveaway have been generously provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark (see my button on the side?)

Are you a homeschooler? Visit Lapbook Lessons for their Back to Homeschool 2010 giveaways now through September 15th 2010. (check out the Homeschool Creations homeschool planner.) Oh and you need to sign up and become a member of Lapbook Lessons which is all about the lapbook way of homeschooling.

In our Sunday newspaper there was an article (and I will paraphrase here) stating that most American kitchen’s couldn’t pass the same health inspection test performed on restaurant kitchens.

Now here in this household we very rarely eat out (due to food allergies) and the slim pickin’s select few restaurants that we can eat from we do go to based on their health safety ratings.

So we felt it only fair that we should take the online quiz linked to in our paper to see how we would do if the health inspector came a knockin’. 

Having taken the local food safety quiz a few times in the past when I helped out in a homeless shelter kitchen and when I was hawking my great baked goods at a very small sweet farmer’s market I (blowing on knuckles here) know a few things about food safetfy.

BUT I do not live alone and in fact my husband loves to cook as much as I do so our kitchen is very much shared….hmmm why do I do all the cleaning then.

Anyway we both thought we should take it separately and not tell each other the results until we were done.

So how did we fare?

I got a B and he got a C.

Where did we go wrong? Okay so some things we marked to be funny. Such as do the one about which restaurants do you eat at (he loves “hole in the walls”). And are your kitchen counters clean. We both marked no because it’s my pet peeve about having anything on the counter at all. I DO need to clean out the cupboards and wipe down the fridge and because of the test that is actually on the list for tomorrow. And I am knowingly bad about thawing and defrosting.

So how do you fare? Los Angeles County Home Kitchen Self-Inspection Quiz