vinegar & nuts

Vinegar and Nuts.

What am I talking about?

Laundry of course.

In my ongoing quest to have sparkling clean laundry as well as NOT use chemicals…. I have a couple of new tips I want to share.  Of course, I would love to hear your all your ideas, please share your tips and suggestions.  I am always willing to try something new that aims towards good health.

Let’s jump in?

Yes, we all know that dryer sheets contain 9 Toxic chemicals and 3 of those known carcinogens (that means they cause cancer).   However, those little sheets of chemicals do a mighty good job at reducing static and that annoying cling.

Big sigh along with a sad face.

Alas, my friends, I have solutions galore (maybe not galore, but at least 3)!

Here is what I do instead;

One trick I figured out is that I use wool dryer balls.  They do an excellent job 3 seasons out of the year.  That leaves us with those cold, static-filled winter months.

Next, I’ve added this little beauty.  Now, don’t get your fancy panties in a tangle, I used a bright-colored piece of fabric so I could find it easily when sorting dry clothes.  However, you can just as easily use safety pins on a single sock or an old washcloth.  The pins act as a lightning rod inside your dryer.  (Gentle note to readers: if by chance you don’t have any or you are saving your “fancy panties” for good and right this minute wearing old, dingy, faded, boring undies ………………for the love of everything wonderful in the world, throw your un-fancy undergarments to the curb (what I really mean is:  in the trash, no one wants to see a bunch of faded, broken elastic, sad-looking undergarments near the curb, no one. )

The next thing I did was order some makeup cloths from Amazon.  YouTube has several (thousand) I am sure, quick videos about how to make your own dryer sheets.  Here is what I do:  roll the makeup cloths (so they equally absorb the magic elixir), Add magic elixer….. better known as 1/2 cup white vinegar and 20 drops of essential oils, put cloths in a jar with a lid, make fancy label if you wish.  Done.  Just as you would with the chemical-laden dryer sheets, toss one of these gems into the dryer along with your load of clothing.  (Gentle Note to the reader:  Doesn’t magic elixir sound better than white vinegar and good smelling oils?  Also, when I say to toss one of these “gems” into the dryer…. I am referring to the dryer sheets, not actual gems.  That would be ridiculous. )

Now to the nuts part of this post.

Again, yes, we all know that laundry detergent has some mighty powerful chemicals (yes, some are carcinogenic, yes, we all know what that means).

No, I do not use detergent.  Sure, I make my own laundry soap, however, 95% of the time I use laundry balls (about 4 years now.)

Enter my ongoing quest to do better. Trying something new to me.

Soap Nuts. 

Soap Nuts are a berry shell that naturally contains soap. They grow on the Sapindus Mukorossi (Soap Berry) tree in the Himalayas.

When agitated with water they release soap. ( Yes, safe for septic systems, yes, completely nut allergy safe.  Soap Nuts are actually a berry fruit related to the lychee and are not nuts at all.)

You add 3 or 4 soap nuts to the muslin bag and toss into the washer.  No chemicals, and yet somehow (magically) the laundry gets cleaned.  Yes, yes, I know the soap actually does the work, I just like using the word magical.

In this together, friends.

Here’s to our health & wellness, even in the laundry room. (insert happy face here!)

Chat soon.

 

the $50.00 lie

I lied.

I am not exactly sure why on earth I chose to lie.

But, I did.

Yep, a big fat juicy lie.

A WHOOPER.

For some reason, I lied and then I started to believe it.

Who was it who said, “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”   Oh that’s right, Adolf Hitler.

Geesh, not very good company.

Here are my excuses:  I was busy.  I was homeschooling two young boys.  I was volunteering.  I was involved in this and that.  We had a dog and house to tend to.  I was selling Discovery Toys.  We belonged to a home school group that met once a week.  We did a field trip every other week.  The boys attended a church program on Wednesdays.  Sunday was always church.  The boys had golf lessons.  The boys had tennis lessons.  The boys had 4-H.  the boys had t-ball.   Thursdays were library days.

Yes, library days.  Each boy was only allowed ten books a week from each library.  We went to two.  So that meant, 20 books per boy, per week.  Each had their own library book bag (that they sewed themselves as a home school math and sewing lesson, sure).  Each had a pocket in the book bag for their very own library card.

When our youngest was 4 years old, he was asked to do a PSA television commercial, encouraging other kids to sign up for a library card.  He did a really good job and was given a brand new book as payment.  

We were trying to teach responsibility.  Treat all books with respect.  Never write in a borrowed book.  Always use a book marker, never dog ear the pages.  Always return books promptly and on time.  Never, ever loose your library card.

Here it comes:  I said, “to replace a lost library card, the library system charges a fee of $50.00”.  That is a LOT of lawn mowing to pay for a new library card.

They never, ever lost their cards.  In all the years of library trips, we only paid a fine once.

We moved state to state, to different country and back to the states again.  Each time, checking out the library system and getting books weekly.

We have lived here in this state for 20 years.  Even though we are empty nesters, we still visit the library on a weekly basis. While we have to pay way more fines then we ever did before, haha, we take very good care of the books we check out. Before the kindle days, we had been known to travel on vacation with our book and bring it back in a timely fashion in excellent condition.  We have never, ever lost our library cards.

Until this week.

One came up missing.  (oh, we have seriously looked and looked and looked)

side note:  We have been waiting in line to check out a certain book.  We have waited a few months.  If you don’t pick it up within 7 days it goes to the next person.   We were notified that it was now available for us to check out.  We wanted that book.

Well, we have gone 30 some years and never had to replace a library card.  I guess it was time to pay the piper.  We want to keep checking out books, weekly.  We both really, really wanted to read the book that finely came in.

We both decided that $50.00 was a fair price for all the books we check out.

Last night, Mr. Right, walked, not with his usual pep in his step, into our local library.  Explained the situation.  Got out his wallet to pay the $50.00.

The librarian said, here is your choice of pictures for your new card.  He chose Chamber’s Bay Golf course picture.

He said, what does it cost for the replacement?

She said, nothing.  Library & replacement cards are FREE. 

What?

Um, I think I owe both our boys an apology.  I think as a busy mom, grasping at everything I could to teach responsibility and good behavior and respect……….I “may” have invented the fee of $50.00 to replace a library card.  I “may” have repeated it 2,000 times over the span of 30 plus years.

I am very sorry for lying.  Gee, I hope you haven’t been scared for life because of this.  If you want, I will gladly sew you each a new library book bag as restitution.

Okay, I think I have some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fabric in here somewhere…..

my modern soap box……..dear D & G and G & M

Nobody likes a know it all.  Seriously, no one on earth likes to listen to a person who thinks they have “it” figured out.  To kids, no matter their ages, I think the sound of their mom’s voice droning on and on is pushed to the back of their brains.  My “mom” soap box is dinged up and dented and chipped and pretty rough-looking.   It is my job and I take it seriously.  I admit it, I sort of like my kids and I want to share any knowledge I glean with them.  Yes, we did a good job.  They are really wonderful human beings who are productive and creative and give back to society…..blah, blah, blah…………I sort of have this feeling that when I am 90 something and living the “good life” in a fun retirement village on a beach in a sunny local, um, I still get to tell my 60 and 70 something “kids” what I think they should know.

I am fully aware that all four of them have highly capable brains & can think for themselves and can most certainly take my advise or not.  I can handle that part.  I just get a weird feeling in my stomach if I don’t share what I think I should be teaching them.

This morning, I decided to retire my soap box and use a little modern twist.  Once in a while, I would like to use this blog to write a letter to my kids.   In no way do I want to criticize their choices.  I have a desire to make sure they get all the information they need to make an informed decision.  The beauty of being a sage (that means old hand at it) parent, is you get to give advise and then go off dancing through your day.  You don’t have to make them write the sentence down five times or repeat the Bible verse or memorize a poem.  You drop little bits of goodness near them and they decide to take the bait or not.

Today’s rant lesson is brought to you by the letter M.  M for mercury.  Mercury is a heavy metal and its toxic effects include damage to the brain, kidney, eyes, ears, speech, lungs and yes it has been shown to encourage cancer tumor growth and cancer cells.   While none of you may ever work in a coal-fired power plant or an unlicensed gold production plant, nor will any of you, mostly likely not eat whale or dolphin meat……………..you may find mercury in your daily life.  I bet you have heard of and ingested HFCS?  Yep, it’s in there.  Those fluorescent bulbs that burn out, need to be disposed of properly.  We can control our exposure of mercury amalgam dental restorations and our consumption of fish.  We can also come across the toxic effects of the heavy metal through the flu shot.  Yes, I said flu shot.   If you have a special “thinking cap”, dig it out & put it on.  Time to jiggle the brain cells and come to the party.

If you read an actual newspaper, the “get your flu shot” ads are showing up this time of year.  People at work talk about it, heck some work places “require” (pish posh) their employees to get one.  THINK FOR YOURSELVES PEOPLE!   Yes, every single grocery & drug store you walk into seems to have a huge sign stating they offer the flu shot.  They will give a portion of the profits to charity or back to you in the form of a 10% coupon for shopping.  The propaganda tells us we should have one.  It is the right thing to do.  You need it.  Gee, since you are here?  FOLLOW THE MONEY kids.  Think for yourselves!  I recently read a very informative article by Dr. Blaylock (over the top, amazing smart cookie with all sorts of initials after his name, all kidding aside, I have learned much from this person, I am and will be eternally grateful).  He gently reminds us, “The incidence of flu across the United States is extremely low – there are virtually no outbreaks – and not a single child has died. Yet, the flu vaccine is being pushed as if it’s the greatest health advance ever discovered.” Does the flu shot have mercury?  YES.  It is accumulative?  Yes.   Is Mercury toxic to our brains?  Yes.    Does the flu shot knock out our immune system for a couple a weeks?  YOU BET it does.  Are we then susceptible to getting sick.  duh.  Facts have proven that in older folks, people who have a flu shot for five consecutive years increase their potential for Alzheimer’s disease by 1,000 percent.  http://healthtip.hacres.com/index.php/2012/01/07/why-flu-shots-are-bad-for-your-brain/  They are now offering…………..wait for it…………….a super inoculation with three times the amount of “good stuff”.   Again, people, please use your brains for something other than a baseball hat rack or a place for cute hair accessories.

Okay, read the article for yourselves.  Read it at lunch.  It will take you 4-5 minutes tops.  Worth your time.     If you do decide to get a flu shot (because of the research you have done) and your immune system is failing you for a couple of weeks, here is a recipe for healing……………..got the sniffles?   Try this:  Immune boosting bath (for kids and adults):  Add 1/2 cup Epsom salts, 1 Tablespoon coconut oil and 5-6 drops of Thieves Essential oil to your warm bath.  Wellness is a lifetime process.  You are so worth taking care of.  Stop.  Re-read that last little bit.  Wellness is a process and you are WORTH it.

If you are a parent and are reading this………..if you would like, please share my modern soap box with your kids.  In turn, if you have recently written a letter to your kids about some hot topic, please share with me.  Raising good kids is TOUGH.  We are in this together.  Let’s help each other?

To D & G and G and M, you know I adore and love you.  I know for a fact that you each have amazing brains and know how to make them work.  I also know that you may get a little bogged down with way too much overtime and are busy with kids of your own, new jobs, and friends and laundry and groceries and budgets…………I am just cutting through some red tape for you.  I value each of you.  You are so worth the research.  You are worthy of wellness and good health.

Carefully stepping down off my soap box now,

Love, Mom