Maneuvering Life and Motherhood with Twins Plus One
Christina Banner is a beautiful Cake and Gingerbread Artist. Gingerbread making isn’t just for Christmas, it is a delicious art form that can be celebrated year around. One of Christina’s recent projects are Earth Day Cookies. These beautiful cookies are perfect for celebrating year round but most particularly on Earth Day when we are all reminded to leave a kinder and gentler carbon footprint. Continue reading “Christina Banner How to Build a Gingerbread House”
Expanding on sustainable food sources has been the greatest advancement and leap for food producers and brands over the last 10 years. As the worlds population continues to grow as well as urban development, food makers are looking for ways to capitalize on the same nutritional levels we need to survive with a minimal impact on land and resources. What consumers did not expect is one of the resources could be the most pesky, yet delicious. Chapul capitalized on the idea for sustainable food sources through their international adventures; the delicacy of sauteed crickets around the world resulted in the next big food revolution. Thus Chapul Cricket Bars and Flour were born. Continue reading “Chapul Cricket Bars and Flour”
Laundry is the bane to our existence. Having clean clothes can be a challenge when you have a busy life, are on the go or find yourself like our family, enjoying the great outdoors. Washing machines are not in the highest demand at the gym or the woods if you find yourself camping, however, situations present themselves where you need access to clean clothes and you don’t have access to a washer. The Scrubba Wash Bag is the most convenient and green solution for clean clothes on the go! Continue reading “Scrubba Wash Bag”
When you have kids, laundry becomes a chore of insanity. We complete and hope for different results each time, that the dirty clothes would stop piling up! Alas, only in a fairy tale or when the kids grow up and move out do the never ending piles of children’s clothing end. In the meantime, how do we keep brighter, fresher clothes without all the chemicals, toxins and perfumes. For me, I love fresh laundry and bright colored clothing; what I do not love are dingy clothes that still have hard to remove stains, like whites for instance. Even colored clothing can have hard to remove stains, so here is a great DIY laundry brightener that is cheaper than oxy clean and safer for your colored clothing than bleach. Continue reading “52 Weeks to Toxin Free DIY Laundry Brightener”
When I remodeled my kitchen some ten plus years ago I did not think about the struggles and troubles of owning stainless steel appliances. Granted I only had my oldest son at the time and I figured we would be a one child family, not even considering the possibility of when we had our twins. Now we have 20 hands and 50 fingers all over my gleaming appliances…well once gleaming. I really do not mind the smudges and fingerprints most days, they are a beautiful reminder of the blessings God has granted me with these awesome people in my life. Other days when my inner dragon lady takes hold and we have company headed over, I curse and rue the day I ever bought stainless steel appliances no matter how gorgeous they may look in my kitchen. Those times I want my appliances to shine like new I sought after the best stainless steel cleaner, of which I came up short, a lot! I have tried every commercial cleaner known to man and even tried vinegar and those stainless steel rat bastards got the better of me. Until I opted for a toxin free option for a stainless steel cleaner and with items right from my pantry. Continue reading “52 Weeks to Toxin Free Homemade Stainless Steel Cleaner”
Funny thing when I was perusing Facebook the other day, I follow a page called Grow Food Not Lawns and one of the memes they posted was that we want natural ingredients in our cleaners but our foods we are okay with artificial or chemical ingredients. The meme said something to the effect of a wood furniture cleaner made with real lemons, but our foods are flavored with artificial lemon. We have become of backwards society in that we look more to convenience and ease than what is really good for us. Yes, the argument is that the items are cheap and inexpensive, but what about the overall cost to our health? Is the immediate savings really worth the long term price? With all the being said here we are for another week in our 52 Weeks to Toxin Free, where I am pleased to share the easiest and most lovely homemade wood furniture cleaner. Continue reading “52 Weeks to Toxin Free Homemade Wood Furniture Cleaner”
Growing up I remember my mother using vinegar for everything in our home. Bug bite? Apple cider vinegar. Ants and weeds in the yard? White vinegar. Vinegar seemed to be a staple in our home. Recalling when my mom put my childhood home on the market for us to move, my grandmother (her mother) came over to help power clean the house and paint. The smell seemed very pungent for me as a child, but looking back I realize this was more about the paint and not the chemicals they were using to clean the house. You see, these two ladies went to town scrubbing the entire house in vinegar. Not ammonia. Not bleach. So I am going to break down an awesome toxin free glass surface cleaner for you to use in your home that is cheaper, safer, healthier and smells better than any other glass and surface cleaner in your home. Continue reading “52 Weeks to Toxin Free Glass Surface Cleaner”
My kitchen is the most coveted room in the house next to my bedroom. Cleaning with a toxin free cleaner was challenging, so I wanted to share my DIY Softscrub AJjax type cleaner recipe. Have you ever watched chefs and the staff clean a five star restaurant? Yes that is what happens in my kitchen; every surface is scrubbed down, every corner covered by scrubbing and cleaning and the use of hot water and a proper disinfecting cleanser. Literally you could eat off the counters and floors since I am so meticulous about crumbs, dirt, and grime in my kitchen. However I struggled with the use of commercial and toxic cleansers like bleach, softscrub, 409, you name it I used these products in my kitchen and even my bathrooms. The fumes soon became overwhelming after introducing essential oils into my home. So I thought about how my grandmothers would clean their kitchen, their homes. As part of our 52 weeks to toxin free, here is week one and how I began researching a DIY Softscrub or Ajax type of cleanser that was heavy duty but without the toxicity. Continue reading “52 Weeks to Toxin Free DIY Softscrub or Ajax”
My kids are still in the “kids” cup age. Two seven year old’s, while wiser and seemingly more mature than most seven year old children, are still clumsy and fumbly as they maneuver their evolving bodies. The Tween of the house likes the plastic cups for the convenience, and quite frankly, he is a bit fumbly himself as he grows into a man-child. This year though I have been trying to eliminate more and more toxins and add eco-friendly products in our home. I think this is great for my family’s overall health and is invaluable for the lessons I am teaching my children regarding Earth friendly products that are sustainable and great for long term health. Great products are emerging that are as hardy and rugged as plastic such as bamboo, which is sustainable and eco-friendly. Continue reading “Eco-friendly Bamboo instead of Plastics from Vandor”
Maybe you recall a science experiment in grade school regarding acids and bases, mixing some vinegar with baking soda? Well take these two fun ingredients, some water and a touch of essential oil, and voila! Chemical free fabric softener. The recipe is really very simple and I mixed the ingredients down to only about one-eighth of the full recipe, that way I could test a small batch and the results were amazing! Continue reading “DIY Fabric Softener Recipe”