Pickle house

Not only do I want to use natural or even organic ingredients in my cleaners but I am also a cheapskate about it. I use a combo of vinegar and water as an all purpose cleaner. My sister tell me my house smells like pickles! Ok, truly it smells like pickled poo as we have cats as well as children with an inability to bring themselves to flush the toilet. Apparently I am too used to both smells. So in addition to needing to at least change the little much more often, I need to find a pickle smell solution as well.

I now that most people just buy something at the store. I know I could use seventh generation products. I know that I can even buy a vinegar based multi-purpose cleaner rather then make my own. I don’t want to spend that much money though! Vinegar costs about $2 for a gallon! The cheapest bottle of non-chemical based cleaner I have found was $2 for a 15oz bottle. Big difference in price! So what are my options?

1. I could add some lavender or lemongrass oil to the vinegar solution and see if it passes my sisters sniff test. (after flushing toilets and emptying little trays)

2. Do a mix of hydrogen peroxide and water(not sure about that being non-chemical technically but it seems safer then bleach).

3. Alcohol and water is another questionable option. Not sure I want to use that one anyway but it is also more expensive then peroxide.

4. This is my favorite idea. Vodka and water!

So my sister emailed me the other day after reading her organic housekeeping book. She told me I could use vodka and water as my multipurpose cleaner and that it would be food grade and therefore safe. Only one problem, I like to drink vodka! Let’s just imagine trying to get the house tidied while kids are running about driving me crazy. You would probably find me partaking of my multipurpose cleaner! This would definitely be counterproductive to my housekeeping.

Since I am too cheap to pay $4 a bottle for a 15oz cleaner and I would get drunk off of the vodka solution it seems I am down to the other three options of scenting the vinegar, using peroxide or using rubbing alcohol. The cheapest options are sticking with the vinegar (depending on the cost of the oils) or peroxide. I already have peroxide in the house so perhaps making up two solutions and seeing which seems to work better might be the best bet.

Does anyone else have any better options that don’t cost the earth?

Tennis Champions!

Emily and Katie came in second and fourth in a local tennis tournament. Ok, there were only four girls entered into their 12U category but I am still very proud!

Each girl had to play three matches so that everyone had played against everyone else (called a round robin). Katie played her first match against Emily’s BFF and lost 8-1. Emily lost her first match to another girl 8-3. Katie’s second match was against the other girl that had beat Emily, Katie lost 8-1. Emily played her BFF and won 8-0. As you can imagine Emily was a bit disappointed and Katie was crushed by the end of day one.

Day two Emily and Katie played each other. Emily is a strong and confident tennis player. She knew she should have won all her matches but that winning this match was imperative! Katie is not so confident and knew Emily would win. Not only did Emily allow us to encourage Katie with some friendly nicknames (like crusher Katie) and telling her to beat Emily (turn Em into a puddle of beatenness) but she also joined in. When Katie got low at one point we had a group hug and at another point Emily told her to turn here into a puddle. Katie played here heart out but lost 8-1.

Katie was devastated about losing all her matches and was in tears. Emily didn’t like seeing her so sad. When we got home, Emily found a ribbon from her own collection, ironed it, filled in the award information, and gave it to Katie.

Later on the last match was played between the BFF and the other girl. If BFF had won 8-2 or better then Emily would have gotten first place and BFF second. Sadly, BFF lost 8-5 so the other girl got first place, Em second, BFF third and Katie fourth. Their coach, who was also in charge of awards, had made it possible for third and fourth places to get a metal each (or as Katie calls them, ribals, because they are ribbons with metals on them).

I was impressed with the physical effort each girl put in. I was impressed with the excellent sportsmanship of these little girls. What impressed me the most though was a love that Emily showed Katie today. That was something that every parent dreams about!

WordPress app

Why is it that on the iPhone app I can have a reader feature that allows me to read blogs about my favorite topics but the iPad app doesn’t have this feature? I know I have the old, worn out eye situation but the iPhone screen is really too small for comfortable reading. The iPad screen is just right for it but it would require my lazy self to look up the website, possibly get signed back in, and then click into the reader function. All I am asking for from WordPress is to add the reader feature to the iPad app. Please!

Behind closed doors

Why is it that in our society we deem it ok to force people to hide? “Keep breast feeding behind closed doors’, they say. “It is ok to breast feed but I don’t want to see it so stay home”. This is hiding and pretending it isn’t real. It is not right!

It used to be that being a pregnant was something to be kept behind closed doors. Kids with special needs were forced into institutions. Depressed woman were put in asylums. Where would we be at now if someone didn’t speak up and say, “hell, no!”?

Perhaps it is not going to happen in my generation that people can get to a point of realizing that hiding behind closed doors is not moving forward. I pray that by the time my children are becoming parents that people will have gotten their heads out of their asses and accepted that breast feeding is right, good and to be seen.

Extended breastfeeding

Why is it considered ok to disparage the parenting choices of others? Why is it that calling a mother that practices extended breast feeding abusive or disgusting consider acceptable? How would you feel to have those mothers tell you how your parenting choices might seem abusive or disgusting to them?

The answer is….it is NOT ok!

Now let’s move on to those that choose to see breast feeding a sexually abusive. Yes we all know that there are people out their that choose to apply their perverted ideas of the purpose of breasts onto a mother-child relationship. Breasts are NOT sexual organs but for the transport of human sustenance. The mother is not sexualizing breast feeding. The child is not sexualizing breast feeding. The only ones finding anything sexual about this is the perverts! If you disagree with this then you are one of the perverts and just don’t recognize it yet.

I am not some militant breast feeder either. In fact I only managed it one out of three times and for less then a year even then. I was even the one that took advantage of the baby’s distraction in order to end it. That doesn’t mean however that I think it is within society’s right to decide for anyone else when to end this natural function.

You do your thing and leave them alone to do their thing. And remember that the shock and awe crap by Time magazine to show a tall 3 year old having a drink was corporate strategy to sell magazine and nothing more.

Summer Vacation….yippee!!!

I couldn’t sleep last night so got up and planned my vacation. You might be imagining that I silly looked a pictures of destinations or maybe went to far as book tickets. Nope. I got OCD on the planning.

We will be visiting my Dad and Stepmom in New Jersey. My husband has to work in the Newark area which a brief trip to Boston so the kids and I will be visiting you the Grandparents in Southern NJ while he works. We had our destination planned to some extent or another for a couple years but figured out a way to make it work out in the last few weeks.

We will be driving the 1500+ miles in two and a half days. Luckily Alan has some Marriott points so that we can stay in hotels on the way up. I found one at our first stop that was very reasonable on points for a regular room so we will need two rooms for the lot of us. On the second night I have estimated we can stop in Knoxville and have found a residence inn that would be perfect for us. At that place we will even have a kitchen. Still need to book these though so no one better go and book these places out before we can get our reservations done.

Since we will be driving and since we have a very modest budget, I will have to pack food and drinks for the trip. Last night I not only estimated the distances to figure out the places to stop for the night but also planned out menus and wrote a grocery list to get us prepared. Breakfast will be instant oatmeal made with boiled water from an electric kettle we will take with us. Lunch will be tuna salad sandwiches on day and chicken salad the next day. The dinners I will make ahead of time and store in gallon size zip-lock bags and then reheat along the way. We will have a camping stove, pans, and dishes to use at rest stops along the way. For snacks I even have crackers and tortilla chips with spinach artichoke dip and hummus planned along with our favorite cold veggies. I will also pack fruit as another snack. And it doesn’t end there. I planned out a couple of simple desserts and plan to have a very large cooler with several dozen drinks in it. Our gas station stops should be for gas and toilets only.

In addition to this I wrote up a packing list of not only the cooking and eating equipment but also for clothing. I have a list of what to pack for each person in the family including how many pairs of underwear each individual should have with them. I planned out where everything will be packed. The food and drinks should fill out the trunk of our town and country without blocking the back window. The underwear and Alan’s work clothing at least will go in the center foot well storage and any other clothing that will fit. In the roof carrier will go the camping equipment like tent, air mattresses, and sleeping bags. But I didn’t finish there either.

I then went on to plan out what each of us should pack for entertainment. A book, workbook (kids), phone/iPad/iPods complete with headphones a soft toy and a mechanical pencil. We have a DVD system so will need a small selection of movies. Each person will be allowed a single bag to keep fun things in.

Did I finish there? No! I then considered that we enjoyed stopping off at a chain restaurant for their buffets in the past. That is the point when I looked up their locations and planned out which stops would most likely work out for our lunches and dinner and made note of the exit number and address.

I have more planning yet to do but this seemed like a rather large amount to get down in two and a half hours. This is also the point I come to my point.

As much as I really, really want to be a laid back, unschooler type of person, I don’t have it in me. I need to plan. I know little will go to plan though but I need to plan anyway. I fear not knowing what I need to get done. I fear forgetting something important. I get myself so worked up with making sure everything is planned out that I get an image in my head of myself running around in circles trying to catch myself (it is an image because I don’t have the energy to do it in real life…only in my head). So when I dream on about relaxing and trusting in God to get everything done, I am in a fantasy world. I am a frantic planner that knows it will all fall apart. That’s me!

Free will

According to what I was taught in the Christian church, God gave us all free will. He wanted us all to have the right to decide for ourselves. I am sure that God would like everyone to follow every one of the rules he gave us throughout the scriptures but he gave us free will and wanted us to use it.

No one chooses to follow every rule completely in the way God intended. As long as God is in fact omnipotent then he knows and accepts that with the gift of free will we will fail to be as perfect as God. If He had wanted humanity to blindly do exactly as we are told He would not have given us free will. If God is perfect and wanted us to be as perfect as Him he would not have given us free will.

I believe that free will is a gift from God. I believe that we should exercise that free will often and allow others to do the same. I believe that we must let everyone have the right to decide for themselves who they are, what they want, and who they want to be with.

I believe that we need to accept that none of us are God. I believe that if God wanted to take away our gift of free will he could at any time. I believe that people need to stop elevating ourselves to the level of God in order to prevent the use of free will by those that disagree with us.

We can choose to live our personal lives in our own way. We will all meet our creator at the end. None of us will have lived a perfect life. God gave us this life. He gave us free will. We have to show him what we can make with the supplies he gave us. Some of us will manage something beautiful. Some of us will create something ugly. Some of us will probably destroy our supplies and have a meltdown. But with free will it is everyone’s personal decision what they choose to create with the gifts they received from God.

The cubicle

I have been analyzing the daily activities of my husband whenever her is at home. I have been considering where he is for most of the day. When something funny is on tv? When dinner is ready? Where is he when it is time to go out somewhere? Anytime I am headed to the bathroom? Pretty much at any point in the day he is always in the same place. On the toilet. I suspect other women also find this their husband’s favorite locale.

This got me to thinking. If all day when he is at home he is constantly in the bathroom then it seems logical that during the work week this must also be the case. So therefore when he is speaking of working at his computer in his cubicle I believe I finally have figured out the truth. The work cubicle must be in the bathroom!

Obviously, they must have made a few adjustments from the typical public loo though for work efficiency. While on the throne I figure there must be a fold down desk of sorts to make computing easier. The also must of course be a power source that is not in your everyday w/c cubicle. This also must be the reason that he now has a work cell phone as it would take up less space in the already crowded work area. A much more efficient work option.

So there is not more bathroom breaks in these offices. No more time wasted in mere bodily habits. No wonder my husband just automatically takes his computer to the toilet with him at home. Now that I have solved this mystery I shall move on to the next great mystery to solved.

And yes he is totally going to kill me for this!!!

Inspiration!!!!

I read a blog called homeschoolingmiddleeast here on WordPress. I wish I was better at using this WordPress app, since my computer is fried, but I am not so I can’t manage a link. Anyway, she had a post about worrying if he son was learning enough like all the rest of us do. I made a comment and several others did as well. Apparently I clicked to recieve other comments as I have gotten a few. The one today from imanetranslator, also from WordPress I think, has inspired me.

Imanetranslator mentioned an idea to pretend to be characters from history and act them out with the kids. Genius! I have this book that we love reading, Our Island Story, which is about the history of England (my husband and children’s native land). So my thought from imanetranslator’s genius is to see about reading one chapter a week and then acting it out. I am not thinking broadway or anything just something fun. Perhaps adding a bit of art and music where it fits in for us.

Don’t you just love sudden, exciting inspiration? That feeling that you want to go straight out and get started? I have that feeling right now. Trouble is that I am late picking up my kids from church because I am blogging. Oops! Must dash.

What has inspired you lately??

Gay marriage

What is marriage in our society? It is a legal status of two people who intend to attempt to live the rest of their lives together. Can it have a religious element in our society? Yes, if those involved want to invoke that element. Would gay marriage do anything to harm anyone? No!

No one is required to marry anyone of the same gender. No one is forcing anyone to attend a gay wedding. Gay marriage simply allows an equal opportunity for homosexually oriented people to access those benefits traditionally held by married couples. The good, bad and ugly of marriage.

I guess the conservatives figure if gays are allowed to marry then eventually everyone will be forced into same-sex relationships causing the end of the world. Honestly people!

Let’s allow adults to make their own life decisions without anyone else butting their noses into others bedrooms.

I may choose to marry a man and my female friend might prefer to marry a woman. It is her life and through her liberty she should be able to live it her way.