Homemade Bathroom Cleaners

There is really only one thing that I hate more than cleaning the bathroom: Washing Dishes. 

And since there was a nice big pile of dirty pots and pans in the sink from my canning project yesterday, I thought today would be the perfect day to clean the bathrooms (and then spend more time blogging about it). The dishes will still be there later, right? The unfortunate answer to that question is always "yes." 

Off I headed to the FOUR bathrooms in the house to scrub and clean. My usual weekly regimen is to just wipe down everything with a disinfectant wipe and scrub the toilet with bleach. But, since it's been at least a week since I really scrubbed them down (ok, more like three weeks...... don't judge me), I decided to do a really good job. Besides, I have this really big pile of dishes waiting for me, so the longer it takes to clean the bathrooms, the better. 

I've been learning all about the natural germ killers, like vinegar, so I've been trying to use less and less commercial cleaners.

According to Wikipedia, 
"Vineagar is reputed to have strong antibacterial properties. One test by Good Housekeeping's microbiologist found that 5% vinegar is 90% effective against mold and 99.9% effective against bacteria,^[48]" 

I make a cleaner that I use for just about everything. (See original post HERE ) 

All Purpose Cleaner
16 oz spray bottle
add 2 Tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp Borax, and some warm water
swirl until borax is dissolved
add a few drops of dish soap (Dawn)
fill the bottle with warm water

(I use a 32 oz bottle from an old cleaner that I had, so I just double the recipe. You can adjust for the size spray bottle you have).

Nice fancy label, right?

I even made my own Orange Infused Vinegar to add the cleaning power of orange oil to the concoction. 

Orange oil "is also an effective, environmentally friendly, and relatively safe solvent, which makes it an active ingredient of choice in many applications, such as, but not limited to, adhesive and stain removers, cleaners of various sorts, and strippers."  Wikipedia.

Orange Vinegar
Collect orange peels and allow them to air dry (toss any that grow mold)
Break up the orange peels and put them in a jar
Fill jar with vinegar
Seal jar and set aside for 2 weeks
Strain orange peels out and keep sealed in a dark location

 I use this spray to clean countertops, showers, and the floor. So far I've been really happy with it. I ran out of it today, so my 4 year old daughter helped me make some more (she loves to stir and mix things). 

Before I knew it, the bathrooms were clean. I couldn't stop there, though, because I needed to put off the dishes for just a bit longer.

I'm always on the lookout for new cleaning recipes to try, and I've been looking for a new disinfectant spray. I came across a recipe for a thyme based disinfectant. (See original post HERE)  

"Oil of thyme, the essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris), contains 20-54% thymol.^[5] Thyme essential oil also contains a range of additional compounds, such as p-Cymene, myrcene, borneol and linalool.^[6] Thymol, anantiseptic, is the main active ingredient in various commercially produced mouthwashes such as Listerine.^[7] Before the advent of modern antibiotics, oil of thyme was used to medicate bandages.^[1] Thymol has also been shown to be effective against various fungi that commonly infect toenails.^[8] Thymol can also be found as the active ingredient in some all-natural, alcohol-free hand sanitizers." Wikipedia.

Since I have a TON of thyme in my garden, it was really easy and cheap to whip up. 

Thyme Disinfectant
Boil 5 sprigs of thyme in 2 cups of water
Turn off heat and cover, allowing the thyme to soak in hot water for 30 minutes.
Pour in a spray bottle and add 1/4 cup Borax (shake to dissolve).

How much is a sprig? I don't really know... I just grabbed a bunch. More is better when it comes to disinfecting power (in my opinion).

How easy is THAT? And is smells really nice too. 

So, my bathrooms are clean and I have a new disinfectant spray to try. These cleaners are so easy to make and do such a good job, that I still have enough time to do all of my dishes before picking up my son at school. 

Darn it!

Homemade Sauerkraut

I LOVE sauerkraut. 

When I found out that I could make it at home, I was SO excited!! And SO scared! What do you mean I put cabbage in salt water and let it sit for 3 weeks? Really? You just let it sit there at room temperature? I was overwhelmed and too chicken to try it.

Lucky for me, though, my mom made me aware of some free classes nearby that were all about canning. In particular, there was a class on making pickles and sauerkraut! I attended the class given by the Master Food Preservers, and got to see just how easy it is to make sauerkraut. I've got my first batch going, and now, so can you!

You will need 6 lbs of shredded cabbage, 3 1/2 Tbsp salt (with no additives), water, and a large jar or crock for fermenting.

Step 1: Shred the cabbage.

Step 2: Put cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle salt on top. 

Step 3: Using your hands, gently toss the cabbage and salt until the cabbage becomes limp and wet like the picture below (this is the same amount of cabbage as the above picture, so you can see how much it shrinks).

Step 4: Wash and dry a large jar or crock. I used a jar from pickled jalapeños (about a gallon size).

Step 5: Begin putting the cabbage in the jar (crock) a handful at a time. Each time, pack it down with your fist to release more liquid from the cabbage.

Step 6: On top of all of the shredded cabbage, place a few whole cabbage leaves to prevent the little pieces from floating up.

Step 7: In a saucepan, mix 1 quart water and 1 1/2 Tbsp salt. Bring to a boil. Cool completely. Use this mixture to add brine to your cabbage if the moisture from packing it down is not enough to completely cover the cabbage leaves. You do not want any cabbage exposed to the air.

Step 8: Fill a ziplock bag with brine to act as a weight to help keep the cabbage down. Place the bag on top of the cabbage. Cover the jar loosely with plastic wrap (you want the gases from fermentation to be able to escape).

Place the entire jar into a bucket or other large container to catch any spillage or fermentation overflow.
Put the bucket into a basement or other area that maintains a constant temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. 

That's it! Leave it for 3 weeks, then refrigerate, can, or enjoy! Be sure to check the kraut daily to make sure that there is enough liquid in it. If the liquid is low, just add more brine mixture. And remove any scum or mold that forms.

I have my batch going and it will be ready in a few days. I will post an update with pictures of the finished product!

**UPDATE  8/21/2012**

I just processed my first batch of sauerkraut! 

To can the finished kraut, you put it in a pan in it's own juices and heat it to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Put it into clean hot jars, and process in hot water canner for 15 minutes.

**UPDATE 7/20/2013**

We ate our sauerkraut this past winter and shared some with friends and family. My favorite was on New Year's Day when we cooked a pork loin in it. YUM! (It is amazing with my Caraway Pork Rub). I have been told over and over by my family that my sauerkraut is the BEST they've ever had (and I don't think they are just being nice. Haha!) I just finished a batch, but this year I'll be making two or three so we don't run out of it like we did last year. This is SO EASY and SO GOOD! I hope you try it!

Cilantro to Coriander

Just a little tip I learned last year. When your cilantro bolts...... which it ALWAY will (especially right when you want to use it), DON'T pull it out!! (By the way, "bolting" is when the herb suddenly grows really tall and flowers). Let it go, watering lightly, until the flowers are gone and turn into little balls on the end of the branches. As soon as most of these balls are brownish in color, cut the stalks and put them upside down in a paper bag. 

When they are all dried, you take all of the balls off the stems. Then, gently rub over them with your hand to get any extra stem or leaf off. Bottle them up and store with your spices. When it is time you use them, you can grind them up or just crack them with the back of a spoon (for coarser uses). They smell so good.... and are great to use in cooking. Grow one plant and harvest two different products. Double duty herb!

Replacement Chicks

I decided that I needed more eggs. I have enough for us right now, but I want to have enough so that I can sell them or give them away to friends. Right now I only have three hens, which amounts to about a dozen eggs a week. My coop is big enough for a few more, so a month ago my kids and I headed off to the feed store and got three new chicks.

Cute, right? We currently have one brown egg layer and two green/blue layers. These new gals will lay white, brown, and chocolate brown.


Well, they would have. :-(


After having them about a week, we accidentally left the garage door open. (The chicks were in the garage in a baby gate type play pen. Completely safe...... as long as the garage door stayed closed.)


My husband went to get something in the garage and yelled, "Your chicks are gone!" With further inspection, we could see three little piles of bloody feathers and little bloody kitty prints. Poor little chicks. I felt AWFUL!


So, after explaining to my kids what had happened, we trekked off to the feed store for some more chicks. They were out of one of the kinds we'd had, so we had to pick a new one. My kids were happy, though, because it was similar enough that we were able to keep the same names (because, you know, that is what matters most). And I am happy to report that I have remembered to close the garage door EVERY night. (And I put a top on their enclosure, just in case).


Meet our replacement chicks:  Zebra, Speckles, and Taxi

This photo is after a few weeks of having them. They are about 5 weeks old here.

I am crossing my fingers that none of these "hens" are actually roosters. Because we all know what happens to roosters at my house...... (See rooster story here). 

Watermelon Fail

When I started blogging, I told myself that I would post about my failures as well as my successes. After all, no one is perfect. And I have learned a lot from reading about other peoples "failures," so hopefully this will help YOU.


I consider myself an average gardener. I am learning quickly, but I still don't know everything. This year, I FINALLY had success growing pumpkins and melons. Yay! Watching and waiting for them to ripen, though, is hard. And how do you know if it is really ripe?


I had a wonderful little watermelon on my vine that I had been watching grow for weeks. I went away for a week on vacation, and when I returned, it looked exactly like the picture on the plant label! Hurray! It's time! So I thought. I read the label, and then read it again to be sure that it was ready. "Dark green fruit, firm, 6" in diameter." Yep. Yep. Yep. Then I tapped it and it sounded hollow, just like it's supposed to.


So I picked it.

I used my hand to show you the size. My hand is about 6 1/2 inches from heel to tip of fingers. (Ignore the green paint on my thumb..... I guess I should have worn gloves while painting my daughter's light.)

I was so excited to cut into it. I grabbed my kids and hurried to the kitchen. I got out my knife and sliced it open.......

Darn it. I guess it wasn't ready. :-(


I will post again when the next melon is ripe...... wish me luck.

Quick Tote Bag

When I was little, we went on vacation and my mom surprised my brother and me with handmade tote bags with activities inside. They were really cute, with our name on the outside in iron on letters. I loved it so much that I decided I would do the same thing when I had kids.

This year, for our annual beach trip, I finally got around to making them. With three little kids, I don't have a lot of spare time, so I needed this project to be pretty quick and easy. I searched the internet and was inspired by this tote. I dug into my fabric stash and luckily had fabric to suit all three of my kids. Yay! Free project!

In this tutorial, I will show how to make the dinosaur bag. The other two bags were made the same way.

Materials
1/2 yard fabric for outside
1/2 yard fabric for lining
1/4 yard fabric for handles

Instructions
Cut 2 pieces 14" wide and 16" tall for the outside of the bag..... making sure that your pattern is going the correct direction. The dinosaur fabric in these pictures. (If your pattern is random, like all of mine, you can cut one piece 14" wide and 32" tall and just fold it so you won't have a seam at the bottom).

Cut 2 pieces 14" wide and 16" tall for the lining. The fabric with words.

Cut 2 pieces 4" wide and 22 1/2" long for the handles. The fabric with words.

This picture has an extra small piece of word fabric that I didn't end up using. I thought about putting a pocket on the outside, but I decided that I just wanted a plain tote bag. You could add pockets to the inside or outside if you wanted to.

Step 1: Make main bag portion.

Layer your fabric for the main bag. Starting at the bottom you should have a lining piece WRONG side up, an outside piece RIGHT side up, an outside piece WRONG side up, and lastly a lining piece RIGHT side up. (If you are folding your fabric to avoid a bottom seam, put the outside fabric and lining fabrics wrong sides together and then fold them so that the outside fabric is on the inside).

Pin and sew the side seams (and bottom seam if needed) with a 1/2 inch seam. Then zigzag stitch along each seam and trim any excess fabric.

Turn the bag right side out and press. Along the top edge, press under 1 1/2 inches. Set aside.

Step 2:  Make handles. 

Press the fabric in half lengthwise. Then open and press each long edge into the center fold. 

Fold the fabric in half again so that you now have 4 layers of fabric with no raw edge showing.

Sew close to the edge all the way around. Zigzag the ends.

Step 3: Attach handles to bag.

On the bag portion, open up the top edge that you pressed. (you can see my ironing crease in the photo below). Lay the bag flat on the table. Being careful that your handle is not twisted, pin the handle to the bag matching raw edges. The side edge of the handle should be about 2 1/2 inches from the side edge of the bag. When pinning, be careful to ONLY go through two layers of the bag. Otherwise you will sew your bag closed. (you will be sewing through the handle, the outer layer, and the lining).

Sew with a zigzag stitch all the way around the top edge of the bag.

Keeping the handle pinned, fold in the top edge of the bag along your crease. Pin.

Sew around the entire top edge of the bag, close to the edge. Then sew around again, close to the zigzag edge. Then, if you want, sew an "X" on each handle to give it extra strength.

Here is the bag on my cute little 2 year old model.... just so you can get an idea about the actual size of the bag. It fits coloring books, crayons, and snacks perfectly without being too heavy or bulky for my kids to carry it themselves.

Flip Flop Fix

The other day I bought a pair of cheap flip flops from Walmart for my 2 year old. You know, the kind with the elastic strap on the back. I knew that, for 2 bucks, they weren't going to be great. But I was just hoping they would get us through the rest of the summer. 


Right away there was a problem. They had connected the elastic with big plastic "clips" (my little one called them "cameras" because they were rectangular with a round silver grommet, or "lens", in the center). When I asked her to put her shoes on, she would tell me "Not the one with the cameras!" I think the little clips rubbed on her foot and hurt her. 


So I did what any reasonable person would do. I cut them off. This left us with a flip flop with no elastic strap. We tried to use them like that, but 2 year olds have a really hard time walking in shoes with no back strap.


Then it hit me. Rubber bands! 

 I love my baby's chunky little feet.

 Find rubber band that are not too small or tight. Hopefully you have two of the same size. (mine were not the same color, but that didn't bother me)

Put the rubber band around the base of the flip flop straps.

 When you put them on, make sure that their toes are on TOP of the rubber band in the front so that the band won't slip off. Then just pull up the band in the back onto their heel.

Obviously, I wouldn't CHOOSE to do this as a permanent shoe. But in a pinch, it works like a charm. I think I'll start carrying rubber bands in my purse, just in case.