Going Green

There's a little more to this being "green" thing than I expected.  I'm not talking granola green, I'm talking "cha-ching" green.  But, it turns out, granola AND cha-ching, work really really well together.  Green Granola?

Here's what I did.  I found a recipe online for homemade dishwasher detergent.  I don't have really hard water, but the money savings was awesome.  I have a great dishwasher(Bosch) so it really does do a nice job.  But, I thought, "What the heck?  I'm only out a few bucks if it doesn't work."  And it did!  It works great.  I don't think I'll go back to store bought detergent again.  My dishwasher looks bright and shiny, it really cleans the dishes and stained plastic ware, and it smells good afterwards, unlike the store bought $$$$ stuff.  Here's the original post HERE.

And any time I can use my Cricut, even better yet.

And I don't have clip coupons for dish soap anymore!

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

2 cups Borax

2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

2 cups LemiShine or 12 packets unsweetened lemonade Koolaid(ONLY  lemonade flavor)

1 cup Kosher Salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  There is a chemical reaction of some kind that makes these ingredients clump up and get hard.  So, just set aside the large bowl on a counter away from children and pets.  Give it a good stir every once in a while for a few days.  Then store on the countertop in a sealed container.

Use Vinegar as a rinse agent.

I also just went paperless with my insurance for email Explanation of Benefits instead of mostly useless papers I just have to find a place to file, and find the time, and shred when I'm done, which also equates to wasted crap in my garbage can.  Which saves me cha-ching again, along with the added benefit of less crap in the landfills.  Which again, I'm not granola on it, but I do feel better about that.

Apps!  Check this out.  There are apps out there for your iPhone and other smart phones that save the barcodes right on your phone.  Instead of all those little member cards and key fobs(that always rip off), you just open up your app, and show the cashier, gym, rental places, your little barcode on your phone.  Just search "Key chain app".

I know there's more I've done lately, that have been little ah-ha moments for me.  I do bake my own bread most of the time.  I make a lot from scratch.  It just tastes better too.  Next up just may be homemade laundry detergent.  My daughter and I both have really sensitive skin and it can be downright painful, especially this time of year.

Craft or Treat...

I love my Cricut! The witches came from a Silhouettes free font I downloaded. And the "Boo!" is in Sparkly I downloaded from fontdiner.com. Used the Sure Cuts a Lot program to cut these out on the Cricut. The glass boxes came from a Super Saturday craft I never got to even start. The good thing about this vinyl is, it comes right off with a warm blow dryer or Undo. So, next month I'm sure I'll change it from Halloween to Thanksgiving(ooohh, maybe some gorgeous leaves!), and then the day after Thanksgiving, onto the Christmas Nativity scenes.



I used some green feather trim I picked up a while ago to go around a small lampshade. I just pinned it snug under the glass block to keep it in place.



I also just pinned some sheer orange wired ribbon around the witch blocks, the lights helped reflect even more color behind them. The lights are small strands I picked up I think at the $ store, and they're just tucked in behind the blocks, no holes in the blocks.



Boo!

My Contribution to Mermaid's Twilight Obsession....

LDS YW Version! I saw a blinkie that said, "My heart belongs to my husband, but my neck belongs to Edward". Mermaid loved it so much that we had to come up with something appropriate for her. For those of my non-LDS audience, RM stands for Return Missionary. She's off at a celebration party for the release of Breaking Dawn with some girls from church, they tried to think of some Twilight themed snacks, but we couldn't come up with anything besides soda and brownies. The girls thought the Quileute "bonfire" food didn't sound very appetizing, lol. We made a sign for her friend, E, hosting the party in sparkly blue and put the quote, "I like my men cold, dead, and sparkly". Hopefully her mom doesn't mind, E had told us she had too many on her facebook and narrowed it down to that one and one other, but that was her favorite, so I hope she likes it. E was almost done with the book already, past page 700 already, and she had a swim meet today!