The Weekend

Tags

DIY, gardening, old houses

This weekend brought really nice weather, gardening, a three-egg day, failed DIY attempts and lots of (misplaced) anger.

Gardening

We planted our seedlings:

• Tomatoes (Early Girl, Manitoba, and Sweet Million)
• Eggplant
• Honeynut Squash
• Basil
• Cucumbers
• Mint
• Oregano
• Surprise! (can’t remember what it is; either cucumber or melons, we think)

We ate our first homegrown salad of the year: baby spinach, asparagus, and French Breakfast radishes.

A Three-Egg Day

Perhaps they’ve all three been laying for awhile, but yesterday, I collected three eggs from the nest (one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one after supper).  Proof positive.  Even though I’m still worried about one of them (floppy comb); her abdomen is still really big and swollen.  But if she’s laying, she must be okay.  ‘Tis my experience that unhealthy chickens don’t lay (unless they’re hopped up on antibiotics and hormones or something, which my girls are not).  They are still receiving their daily dose of yogurt.

Failed DIY Attempt

A few posts back I mentioned all the projects I was going to do to keep myself busy once foster toddler left, and that included finally installing baseboard in my bedroom.

This is a lot more difficult than the Internet makes it out to be.  Probably because I have an old house with crooked walls and uneven floors.

I bought a thick baseboard (11/16″) to cover the gap between the wall and the new flooring, thinking that I wouldn’t have to install quarter round.  WRONG.

Sure, it covers the gap just fine, but my damn floors are not level and now there are gaps between the baseboard and the floor, ranging from a barely noticable 1/8″ to a glaring 1/2″.  GRRRRR.

I consulted This Old House, as I usually do, and they had a step-by-step tutorial on how to get a tight fit.  I was good until Step Five – scribe the baseboard along the bottom.  I marked it out with a compass, and then went to cut the boards.  Unfortunately, scribing the bottom of an 8′ long baseboard with a circular saw set to a 5 degree bevel is beyond my carpentry skills.  Cursing and crying ensued as I wrecked baseboard after baseboard.

I walked away from the project (literally, I took the dogs for a walk), and came to the decision that I would install the rest of what I had at the highest level point of the floor, then buy a couple more boards to finish it off and some quarter round to cover the gap between the floor and baseboard.

But by that point, I couldn’t even install level baseboard and ended up ripping everything out and walking away.  Again.  So I still don’t have baseboard in my bedroom.

On the plus side, I feel really comfortable using an air nailer now, and was at least able to finish installing the quarter round in the rest of the house.

(Misplaced) Anger

List of things I was angry at this weekend:

• Baseboard
• Uneven floors
• Crooked walls
• Old houses
• Fucking birds singing outside my window at 4 a.m.
• The fact that dogs can’t speak English
• The aging process
• Hunger
• Cooking
• Biking up hills

Glimmer of Hope

Will took me to the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan site, and I felt a small twinge of excitement.  For the first time since foster toddler left, I was looking forward to something in the future.  Small step.

New Hairdo

Tags

DIY, diy hair wax, hair wax, short hair, women's short hairstyle

I tried to grow my hair out. I really did. But it was just a big frizzy mess most of the time, and to be honest, I didn’t know how to take care of it or style it. I like hair that takes about five minutes to do in the morning. Anything more than that I feel is a waste of time. Most men only spend about five minutes on their hair, so why should it be any different for women? So, last Friday, I went to the hairdresser and this happened:

Now that’s it’s short, I need a bit of product so I made myself a hair wax following this recipe.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Snack Time

Tags

DIY, Homemade pita chips, salsa, snack

I bought this awesome avocado salsa at the Farmers’ Market last Saturday. There’s a lady there that makes the best fresh salsas, a skill I have yet to acquire (I always seem to fail at salsa). I didn’t have any tortilla chips in the cupboard, but I did have pitas in the fridge. Making pita chips is incredibly easy. It took all of 10 minutes from start to finish. And they were delicious.

Easy Peasy Pita Chips
-Two or three pitas
-Olive oil
-Salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. Using kitchen scissors, cut the pitas in half and carefully open the “pockets.” Separate the pocket at its seams and cut each half into triangles. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for four minutes. Flip them over and bake for another couple minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

You could add different spices or herbs, maybe even some grated Parmesan to these, too.

DIY Coconut Oil Deodorant

Tags

coconut oil, Corn starch, Deodorant, DIY, Essential oil, homemade, Personal care, Sodium bicarbonate, tea tree oil

Two years ago, I accidentally bought deodorant at the drugstore instead of anti-perspirant.  I didn’t mind it so much, and I liked that it didn’t have any aluminum in it.  So I stuck with it.

But even drugstore deodorant is chock full of chemicals that I can’t pronounce, and I sorta got on a hippy kick of making my own personal products so as to reduce the amount of unpronounceable chemicals that I was slathering on my body.

To the Internet!

I tried a couple different recipes before I found one that I liked.  I don’t even remember what site I found this recipe on, so unfortunately, I can’t give credit where credit is due.  But I’m certain you could find it on any number of websites now.

I kept meaning to blog about this because I’ve been using it for over a year now, and I really like it, but I keep forgetting to take pictures when I make it, and one little tub of it lasts me about 4 – 6 months, so it’s been awhile since I made a batch.

Coconut Oil Deodorant

1/3 cup Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Baking Soda
1/4 cup Cornstarch
5 – 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil
(or Lavender, or Peppermint, or Eucalyptus – whatever your nose likes!)

Mix the baking soda and cornstarch together in a bowl.  Add the coconut oil on top, and microwave it for about 25 seconds on high.  Once the coconut oil is soft, mix everything together really well.  Stir in your choice of essential oil, and scrape into a small tub.  Let it cool.

Coconut oil will melt at body temperature.  You take a little bit of the deodorant on your finger, and rub it into your skin like a lotion.  If you find it irritates your skin, reduce the amount of baking soda and essential oils.

Simple, thrifty, and no unpronounceable chemicals.  You will sweat, but you won’t smell.

Related articles

• Make your own natural deodorant – that works! (mamagoingnatural.wordpress.com)
• Don’t Sweat It – Make Your Own Natural Deodorant (hildablue.com)
• Sherry’s Home & Beauty Tips: DIY Deodorant Paste (moodysistersblog.wordpress.com)

 

Whipped Body Butter

Tags

Body butter, DIY, homemade lotion, moisturizer

Spring may have finally arrived, but my skin is still feeling the effects of the dry, harsh winter.

I’ve been experimenting with lotion bars that you can use in the shower to no good results so far.  I’m on the verge of giving up.  They either melt way too fast, or don’t melt enough and leave you covered in a thick layer of goo.  I’ll keep trying, but in the meantime, my skin needs hydration.

Pinterest to the rescue.  I found this recipe for Whipped Body Butter on One Good Thing by Jillee.  It looks so good, I want to eat it.  (Don’t actually eat it.  It won’t kill you, but it certainly won’t taste good).

Whipped Body Butter:

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup castor oil*
• 1/2 shea butter
• 15 – 20 drop essential oil of your choice

Melt the coconut oil and the shea butter in a double boiler.  (I used a glass measuring cup in a pot of water).  Once melted, stir in castor oil and essential oils (I used 10 drops of vanilla and 5 drops of peppermint – vanilla mint – my fave!)  Let the mixture cool for about half an hour.  I put mine in the fridge.  The mixture should be opaque and semi-solid.  Now whip it.  Whip it good.  It takes a couple of minutes, but it’ll soon become white and fluffy, like whipped cream.  Scoop it into a jam jar.

*I used castor oil because that’s what I had on hand.  You could also use almond oil, jojoba oil, or olive oil.

When you first put it on, it’s going to melt from your body temperature, but almost immediately, it’ll soak in and your skin will be lovely smooth and moisturized.  Ahhhh.  No more waking up in the middle of the night to scratch the skin off my dry, itchy legs.  Hurrah!

Crafty Fun Times

Tags

craft, DIY, porcelain pen, sharpie mugs, thrift store

I had some fun with the porcelain pens I bought before Christmas.

I picked these plain white mugs up at Value Village for 99 cents each.

It’s amazing what I can find to do when I’m trying to avoid working on my lines.  Sigh.

Healthy Valentine’s Day Chocolates

Tags

Chocolate, coconut oil, coconut oil chocolate recipe, DIY, homemade, raw cacao, raw honey

A while back, I took a class on how to make raw chocolate.  Though I loved the class and the chocolate, I never did get around to buying all the necessary ingredients to make it at home.

Then a couple of days ago, I stumbled upon this recipe for Coconut Oil Chocolates, and had to give them a try.  I already had all the ingredients in my pantry.

It was so easy.  It took about five minutes from start to finish to make the chocolates.  Then you chill them in the freezer for 30 minutes, and they’re ready.  And delicious.  And healthy.  Coconut oil, honey, and raw cacao – super yummy.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

I Saw it on Pinterest

Tags

coffee mug, craft, DIY, gifts, handmade, hot chocolate, stocking stuffer, upcycle

So many things on Pinterest that I want to make; so little time to make them.

I loved this project the moment I saw it – it upcycles old mugs, involves typography, and is super quick and easy.  Craft skills needed = minimal.

Basically, you write on a plain mug with a Sharpie or a paint pen (I used a paint pen meant for ceramic/porcelain), and then you bake it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F.  Easy peasy.

I got the mugs from a thrift store (4 for $3.99), and wrote four different quotes about winter on them (My fave? “Winter is nature’s way of saying, ‘Up yours.'”) I’m using these as stocking stuffers (with a packet of homemade hot chocolate mix tucked inside them).

This would make an awesome opening night gift – write the name of the show, maybe a quote or two from the play, bake, fill with chocolate, done.

Lazy Upcycler Finally Upcycles Lazy Susan

Tags

craft, DIY, Lazy Susan, Paint, upcycle

So I bought this ugly, old Lazy Susan way back in July, and then just let it sit on the floor in my office for five months.  I really had no idea what I wanted to do with it.  One day, during my many hours of trolling the internet, I happened upon The Graphics Fairy blog.  I’m a sucker for anything French, but especially French typography from the late 19th/early 20th century.  Bingo!  I Frenchified it.

Structurally, it was in great shape.  Only one of the little posts had popped out, but a dab of superglue took care of that.

Step One:  Sand and paint.  I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra (primer and paint in one) in “Aged Parchment.”

Step Two: Printed off this graphic from The Graphics Fairy, and traced it onto the Lazy Susan using graphite transfer paper and a stylus.  Then I used a small paint brush, and black acrylic craft paint to paint on the letters and embellishments.  (This would probably be easier with paint markers.  My hand was a little shaky with the paint brush).

Step Three:  I glazed the entire thing with a brown paint I had leftover from painting my bedroom nightstands.  I used one part paint to three parts water, roughly brushed it on, then wiped it off with a rag.

Step Four:  Finally, I applied three coats of poly in a Satin finish to protect and preserve the hand-painting.  Also makes it easier to wipe clean.

Me likey.  I think I’ll use it on the kitchen table as a fruit bowl.  It’s too pretty to put in the pantry.

A Whole New Level

Tags

appliance repair, DIY, dryer

We took it up a notch this week.  We entered a whole new area of self-sufficiency.  We repaired a major appliance:  our dryer.

We bought the dryer in 2005, after we got married and bought our first house, all in the span of four months (Note:  Do not do as we did.  One major life change at a time).  A couple of months later, the dryer started to make a “ting ting” noise at a regular interval.  Ting ting (beat) ting ting (beat) ting ting.  It was annoying, but whatever.  The dryer still worked fine.  We put up with the “ting ting” for seven years.  About six months ago, it started adding in a “guh gunk.”  Ting ting (guh gunk) ting ting (guh gunk) ting ting.  Time to repair.  Even closing the basement door could not block out the “guh gunk” sound.

As far as appliance repair goes, a dryer is a pretty simple machine.  A motor, a blower/fan, a drum, a belt.  Not much to it.  But still.  They’re expensive, and we really don’t want to be replacing a dryer right now (not when the car needs new front struts).

Armed with power tools, we took off the back panel and stared inside, hoping it would magically guide us to what needed to be fixed.  When that didn’t work, we asked the Internet for help.  YouTube answered with a video of some dude showing step by step how to change the drum belt on a Whirlpool dryer, the same kind we have.  Ah, you go in through the top of the machine, not the back.  Okay. We put the panel back on.  Thank you, Internet.

We opened up the top and found a penny, a dime, and a screw inside.  We think the penny and the dime were rolling around making the “ting ting”, and the screw had got caught between the drum and the front casing, causing the drum to be off balance and go “guh gunk”.  The belt was fine, and there was nothing else inside, so we closed it back up, plugged it in, and gave it a test run.  Smooth operator.  Weird noises gone.

Sometimes, the goal is simply not to make the problem worse.  The fact that we actually fixed the problem is icing on the cake.  Score one for self-sufficiency – hurrah!

Have you every attempted any major appliance repairs?  How was your experience?  Empowering or discouraging?  Leave me a comment below – I’d love to hear from you.

P.S.  I seriously considered not including that picture of myself.  I look like I just woke up – messy hair, sweat pants, and dosey eyes.  I didn’t just wake up.  This was after supper.  I don’t know why I was such a mess.  But I included the picture anyway.  Call it a lesson in vanity.