Gifts on the cheap

Today is my mothers birthday. Cash (as always) is super tight but I wanted to give her some nice gifts. So last night I racked my brain and made some home made gifts that I could make her. I ended up distilling some home made rosewater for facial tonic and making some mint foot scrub. Both came out awesome, were cheap and hopefully she loves them!

Ultimate Homestead Weekend!

Whew! What a weekend we had! I blindsided the husband a bit with a work weekend, he was expecting a relaxing one and I had other things in mind. I hit some resistance, so I took it easy on him (he has been working a ton) and did most of the work myself.

What brought this on? Well, nothing better to do for one. But I also bought the best book ever on Amazon and it arrived friday while I was at work. Do It Gorgeously- It was packed with awesome ideas and I had some things I wanted to get done anyway, so I set my mind on getting some projects knocked off.

The first thing I did was revamp the homemade laundry detergent. My sister seems to like the liquid stuff we made, but I found it to be weak and not as effective as I need it to be. So I made the powdered kind. Heres the receipe I used-

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1 grated bar of all natural soap (my girlfriends use Dr Bronners- I used the cheap stuff)

Let me tell you- it works awesome! My husbands work pants look fantastic!! I even hit the local flea market and bought the cutest green antique tin pail to store it in.

I cleaned every corner in the house. Even defrosted the chest freezer and cleaned it out. Made meal plans, sewed some projects, made the all the beds in the house and even reorganized some rooms and closets.

Husband did make it outside to stack wood and mow the lawn. I heard the lawnmower shut down 2 times followed by silence. Both times I went to investigate (I wanted to make sure he didnt lose a foot or anything) and BOTH times found him hunched over a plant. "Look! We have strawberries growing here!". "Look! We have raspberries over here!". He was excited! And so was I! Looks like this homesteading thing is contagious! Glad to see he is liking it too.

Anyway, I feel like we got alot accomplished! One step closer to a greener, happier (and pretty!) home!

my first pie!

Admittedly, I am not much of a baker. Not because I can't, more because I don't want to. I don't follow directions well and like the freedom of throwing together a meal. Exact measurements are just not my thing.

But, that may change.

Last week was my Dads birthday. As I was weeding my garden the morning of his birthday, I looked over at my very small rhubarb bush. As I continued on with my gardening chores, I thought back to when I was a child. Every June, this older gentlemen from our church would bring a bundle of rhubarb to my dad. They sang together in the choir and my dad must have mentioned how much he loved strawberry rhubarb pies. My mother would bake him one every year for his birthday, until the old man died. Then the pies stopped.

So, then it dawned on me. Why not make him a pie? Well for one, not enough Rhubarb. But then I remembered I had loads of frozen blueberries from last season in my freezer. And I had a whole pile of fresh strawberries. I hurried with my chores and then ran to my sisters house next door. She can bake.

She instructed me on a quick pie lesson. Line the oven with tinfoil, it will blow. Don't grease the pie pan. Wash top crust with milk and sugar. All the stuff us non bakers don't really know. And with that, the invention of my strawberry blueberry rhubarb pie.

5:00 came and the pie was fresh from the oven. It looked good. It smelled good. We loaded up the car and I made my husband drive 5 under the speed limit all the way to my parents house as I held the pie on my lap. Then I realized. Would people even eat this? I don't bake! They may not trust my first attempt. I told husband he should try it first- no way! was his response. Nice.

Well, I have never seen a prouder father! He was surprised and was tickled that I remember his love of rhubarb pies. He loved my addition of the blueberries. We made him try it first (it was afterall his birthday!) and he loved it! We didn't believe him, but he didn't keel over, so the rest of us dug in. Perfect! So, maybe I can bake after all!