Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for the ‘homemaking’ Category

I’ve been sorely neglecting cleaning the home. I prefer to clean a little each day as opposed to an all out cleaning in the Spring and Fall. This method helps me keep up with the home better and if I miss a day or two it doesn’t matter because the room gets touched up every several weeks.

I’m starting out in the dining room because it’s annoying me. I started with decluttering. Then moved on to cleaning overhead light fixtures. I’ll dust the ceiling today (I know I should have done that first) and then move on from there.

Trays of Plant Starts (Photo credit: OSU Master Gardener)

I put out my plant starts this week to start hardening them off. I have sweet potatoes, peppers, and basil (should I have started that from seed outside). That’s nothing to my friends 25 plants of Swiss Chard. I’m so jealous! I’ll also train the peas up the trellis and…make some calcium tea from egg shells.

That’s it for my procrastinating.

How about you? Visit New Nostalgia for more anti-procrastination posts.

Sew Mom some cute vintage hankies. Check out these delights at Molly’s Sketchbook  Mom can keep them in her purse and whip them out to dab her eyes at your thoughtful gesture.

Even though winter just left any time is the right time to sew mom up a Vintage Inspire fleece hat from Alisa Burke. Truthfully I planned to make this for myself.

Make mom a very chic button necklace from And Sew We Craft

Make mom her own darling spa towel so she can dry off in stye. From Sew4Home. And don’t worry you’ll find many more ideas when you follow the link.

Red onions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m still dealing with onions in my little garden here. The weather has warmed up enough to get most things, except the sun loving, out in the garden.

Last year I decided I wanted to do lots of onions. We use them all the time, in various forms and who doesn’t love fresh onions? Okay Sweet Peanut is not fond of them. But she’s seven.

So first off my Potato or Multiplier onions are just starting to sprout (took a long time if you ask me). I had originally ordered Egyptian Walking Onions but Territorial Seed Co. had a bad batch and sent me the Multiplier onions instead.  I was okay with that because perennial onions just sound great altogether so I planted those in a pot last fall and they are sprouting now. Do I need to fertilize these? Anyway if you’re wondering what these are here is some more about perennial onions.

Second I ordered some Red Candy Apple and RedWing onions from dixondalefarms. I followed their growing directions for as much as could go into my two raised beds (onions only) and the rest I’ve stuffed into pots until I can get the into more pots. You get so many onions! My goodness!

Finally I’ve learned how to grow scallions from sprouting onions and I might try that for some fresh green stuff while my other onions are growing.

My husband thought I was kidding when I kept telling him I was out of room and had more onions to put somewhere. Then he saw my stuffed pot.

I feel like onions are one of the easiest kitchen goodies to grow and used so much it’s worth it to grow what you can.

Whew!

Don’t worry I also have carrots, swiss chard, peas, potatos, tomatoes (coming), melon, watermelon, lettuce, kale and peppers growing in pots. A few herbs too but I kind of ignore them until Thanksgiving.

Oh and celery but that’s another story.

Happy Gardening

Tesco and Sainsburys own dishwashing liquid (Photo credit: Kai Hendry)

All these years I’ve been a dish soap hog.

I admit it.

I wash with wild abandon.

A dish doesn’t feel clean unless it’s been bathed in luxurious soapy hot water. Ten squirts at least. Sometimes needing a fresh squirt all it’s own.

I’m shameless.

Until I forgot to buy dish soap last week.  I was perilously on the edge. Only enough for, in my past washing excess, 2 days at most.

I decided to quickly mend my ways rather than make a run to the store. Or better yet beg my husband to pick up some on his way home.

I was determined to squeeze it out.

I thought about making some. And while that is a good idea I don’t have any castille soap on hand.   And since, remember, we’re not running to the store just yet I had to make do.

So three times a day I fill the sink with hot water and a few squirts of dish soap. Much less than my usual ten (I know I’m shameless). I start with cups first per vintage instructions, then move on to plates, cutlery (that’s what I call it) and finish off with pots.

OHMYGOODNESS! With this way of washing I still have enough dish soap for several days. I’m going shopping tomorrow so I will pick up some just to be on the safe side but I rather pleased with this new revelation that I CAN wash dishes without half a bottle of dish soap!

Well Spring is officially here and even though I can see snow in them thar’ yonder hills, I planted some spring veggies anyway.

We got started with our onion starts (nothin’ but red this year!), some swiss chard, carrots (purple) and peas. And I’m being very lazy with the tomatoes. Instead of starting my plants from seed this year I ordered some starts. I’m so lazy I want the company to just ship them when it’s time to plant them. Yawn! Tomatoes give me such a headache every year.

I have some potato multipier onions (which I’ve never before grown) that have been out in the garden since last fall. If you don’t know what these are they are perennial onions which produce multiple heads that you can harvest and then replant in the fall.

They tend to be mild in flavor and the size you get can depend upon the size you plant (so I’ve heard). Apparently there are various varieties but the only ones I’ve found to buy are the yellow.

Originally I had ordered the Egyptian Walking Onion. This is also a perennial onion but the new bulbs set on the top of the greenery as opposed to underground. Last year Territorial Seed was unable to get any from their supplier so they sent me these instead. I wasn’t that happy so I just planted them in one of my Garden Patch pots and forgot about them… until now when gardening season is upon us. Now I’m blowing them kisses and so excited to see what they do down there.

Here is some more information on how to grow Potato Multiplier Onions

I love onions. They make the dish so this is only right that I should have them constantly coming in. You know a nice, never ending supply. Fresh from the garden.

Next up I would like to try onions from seed.

I had the thought to make a Quiet Book for my daughter. She’s a little older than the age most people make Quiet Books for AND I’ve never made one before. (she’s 7)

I didn’t really want to go out and buy a bunch for stuff to make the quiet book with so the only things I purchased were a few fabric squares from the quilt clearance bin at my local fabric store.

I used the pretty quilt fabric for the front back and spine. I used some basic natural cotton for the pages. I used thin batting for the pages. And then I used felt for the activities.

I got ideas from all over the internet and then at the end I landed upon this site Girl Inspired and took a few ideas to pretty up my Peanut’s book.

My Peanut’s book is not big. Only 3 activities, 6 pages, but I am surprised by how much she enjoys it. It could be because I made it. I’m not trying to toot my own horn or anything but I have noticed for the last few years that she really treasures the things that people make her.

Here are a few bad images of her book (she’s sleeping so I snuck it out).

Well it’s done and I’ve been using it. I’ve also been having to hide it from my daughter.

I’m talking about my Housekeeping Card File.  The little file box designed to help me manage my cleaning chores. I’ve actually gotten back on track in the cleaning department but this was a nice little project to get done. I made little cards and dividers for the interior. I typed the information on each card. The only ones I haven’t done yet are the monthly cards. But that will come. It’s all very cute and colorful and now Sweet Peanut wants one.

I made it in a green and blue theme. That is scrapbooking paper Modge Podged to the outside. I had tried painting it but it looked awful and peeled off.

The pages are from Cajoline Scrap. She has some lovely stuff and is nice too. I printed the cards and dividers on cardstock but thought they were a little flimsy so I backed them with more card stock.

I used the Stampin’ Up Rounded tab punch to make the tabs. I don’t have many scrapbooking gadgets but I did get that.

Dishwasher, open and loaded with dishes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So my sister and I were gabbing the other day about regular cleaning things. She mentioned that her dishwasher has been really doing a number on their dishes lately.  She said at first there was a small smattering of white residue on the dishes after a load had washed. But that lately that had been bumped up to the point where she was re-washing the dishes by hand just to remove the icky residue!

We have the same dishwasher that is the same age.  But we don’t have this problem. What is the difference?

The dishwashing detergent.

To save money she had been using Palmolive Eco Gel Dishwashing Detergent (sorry Palmolive). It’s always on sale at our local grocery store so this only makes sense. I’m one of those that when I find a brand I like I tend to stick with it as long as it works. I look to save money on said brand with coupons and sales.  So we have been using Finish brand for many years.  Both of us have been using our respective dishwashing detergents in our identical machines for about 4 years.

In her dishwasher she found the buildup so bad and hard to remove that she has been using tweezers to dislodge the goop. Yes that’s right. Goop when wet and hard as a brick when dry! She has also tried vinegar. 2 cups per dishwashing load. To no avail.

So she asked me to warn you my loyal readers. Check your dishwasher. Look for buildup. Be wary of how your dishes are coming out. Pay attention to reviews. If you see problems it may be time to change your dishwasher detergent.

So I said I would post some pictures about making the Crazy Crayons. Peanut is still happily using them to be very artistic around the house.

Here is the recipe again.

Crazy Crayons Recipe

1. Take your old crayons remove paper and break in smaller pieces. Like an inch long.

2. Mix colors to your liking in small oven save bowls. We put yellows and greens together. Reds with oranges and purple. You get the idea.

3. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until melted. You can swirl them together a bit if you want. We did not.

4. Pour mixture into cookie cutters placed on wax paper or candy shape trays (can’t rightly remember the name of these).

5. Let them set up for about 10 minutes and then put in your freezer for 10 minutes more.

6. They should pop out and be ready to draw with.

Meals ready for the freezer

Did you know March is frozen food month? Well it is. So that makes it a good time to become reacquainted with your freezer.

I’ve been becoming reacquainted with mine lately.  Having made our way through the freezer meals I put by a few months ago I started refilling the meals department by making a few freezer meals each week. I’ve set aside Thursdays and Saturdays as freezer or baking days (depending upon which I need to replenish). This past week it was lasagna with homemade noodles (more about those later). I only make small batches at a time to keep the clean up low and I make an extra for dinner that night so I don’t have to cook extra.

The basic recipe I use is from the freezer cooking manual.

So in honor of Frozen Food Month whip out that foil, dust off the slow cooker, and find some great recipes to put by for that extra busy day.

• If you have a Facebook account ‘Like’ the Frozen Assets page to see freezer recipes and more all month long.

• Download a sample of 30 Day Gourmet’s Big Book of Freezer Cooking.