I’m a geek (see the site subtitle). I also love antiques, refurbishing used items, country farmhouse style, and doing fun furnishing projects. This project combined those together in I think is a pretty awesome way.
Slogan stolen from Tim Gunn of Project Runway. As I mentioned, my new kitchen is not ideal. One frustration was a lack of places to store my pots and pans. I had a cabinet over the wall oven where I could stack pots and pans, but getting out the one I needed was a sometimes…
In my journey to simplify and do things for myself, I try lots of different things like making your own laundry detergent, making vanilla extract, using bar shampoo, etc. And while I share my successes and how-to’s, I think it’s important to also note when things aren’t working like I think they should, to show…
The original experiment Back in February I posted about the beginning of my experiment on making my own vanilla extract. In my experiment, I created vanilla extract by soaking the beans in three different alcohols for 12 weeks. I used one cup jars of Skyy Vodka, Bacardi Rum, and Black Maple Hill Kentucky Straight Bourbon. …
Instructions on making your own powdered laundry detergent.
Posting inspired from down–to–earth‘s On Your Mind Fridays. On my mind today is Vanilla! I bought 1 pound of extract-grade beans online and I’ve started an experiment on making my own vanilla extract. I regularly pay $15 for 12oz or so of good quality extract, and I bake a lot so this may be a…
So as I posted last week, this year I am making homemade gifts. The first gift I’ve finished is handmade soap. I used a recipe I found online for goats milk honey oatmeal soap, though I made some adjustments to use what oils I could find. I must say, I think the experiment was quite successful.
I realized this week I have little to no money for holiday gifts this year. While I did good by setting money aside in a special account for the past few months to cover our Christmas Eve “feast of the seven fishes” traditional dinner, I did not specifically set aside gift money, so with the loss of our second income, there is none.
Enter the “Pick-Your-Own” Gift bag.
My hubby says this smells like Christmas. I say it smells like YUM! Very nice for either man or woman, I should think.
I had a very busy weekend. Most of the business was of my own making. But in all it was full of accomplishments, both big, small, successful, and not-so-successful. I’m going to refrain from calling some of them failures, because they were attempts and showed me where I might need to improve in the next…