My six-year old and I are going back to camp with these beauties.
This was a huge hit!
Love to try this new craft project after I finish this one for my partner.
Thinking about this for my daughter’s birthday.
Our most recent book club read. It was phenomenal!
As always, loving the earthy smell of Vetiver in the house!
Or, some Sweet Basil in an oil burner! (Not for use on body!)
Just a few!
This Memorial Day has dawned a perfect spring day. Sunny, in the 70’s and after a brief stop at Trader Joe’s, the kids and I are headed to a state park for a hike and a picnic lunch.
Today, I’d like to share some recent finds from this inter-connected web.
1. We do not have many lilac trees here. Lilacs are my most favorite flower and so this lovely post makes me want to search for a bouquet for my table.
2. REALLY want to try this lovely thing for dinner soon!
3. Starting to plan summer lessons and projects for the kids. No, we do not homeschool, but during the summer, we need things to do and I love to learn as much as the kids. Here are some activities I’ve been thinking about.
4. Planning a trip to this lovely bird sanctuary. My favorite is the albino robin they have. We often end our trip with a stop at the Great Swamp for a bird watching session.
5. Thinking about pampering myself using this.
6. Next we grill, I hope to have garden fresh beets for this lovely thing.
7. Lastly, I’d like to end one of my weeks with one of these.
This week is suppose to be warm, almost summer like. But this morning dawned a shady grey as the clouds from yesterday’s rainstorm finish passing through. So before things clear up, we have created an art gallery in our home. We placed each piece to her specifications and then labeled them all with her choice of name. We will keep it up throughout the week, as I am sure my daughter will drag all of our neighbors through the house this week.
Here’s a tour:
A Study of Paw Prints
The Slithering Snake Field
Everything in the Whole Wide World Scientist
The Sweating Day with the Fruit Mix
Crowned Royalty
The Fluffy Sparkle House
The Purple Princess
The Green Bow
Mrs. P and Luna Walk on Valentine’s Day
Pretty Flowers and Polka Dots
Luna finding Mrs. P on Flower Island
Belle and the Glorious Flowers
The Rainbow and Beautiful Flower
Caroline and Luna go to see the Diamond
ABC’s and 123’s
The Magician Who Put Sparkles in Outer Space
Several years ago, when my son outgrew his baby blankets, you know, the kind that are flannel for swaddling, I had an “Ah ha!” moment. I couldn’t bear to get rid of them. After all, he was my last child and because I hated the idea of wasting blankets. At around the same time, both of the kids had spring colds and would scream every time I would come at them with tissues.
Ah ha! Why not take the flannel blankets and make them into handkerchiefs? We have used them ever since.
Add to that…handmade napkins with leftover fabric from sewing projects (actually, it is cheaper to get some fabric from the store and make your own napkins rather than buying fabric napkins from the store.)
And…let’s not forget the old cloth baby diapers that someone gave me at the birth of our daughter that I have never used. These diapers are now used as a replacement for paper towels.
We have effectively replaced all of the most wasteful paper products – tissues, napkins and paper towels.
Now, I have been making my own laundry soap for a while now and felt that I wanted a better disinfectant booster. One of the reasons for my concern is above. All of these cloth items are great! But I typically wash all of these items together (rather than mixing them with clothes) and I was concerned that they needed more disinfecting than regular laundry.
After taking a class to get get more information on essential oils, I realized that a bit of tea tree oil is all I needed. So using this recipe as a base, I now use Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree Soap and add a few drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil directly to the wash, not the soap. I also use hot water when washing these items, rather than the cold water I use during our clothes cycles.
I could go on and on about essential oils and the use of them in your home and on your body. This, however, has been done by many people before me. You can find some of this here.
There are a couple of things that I do want to emphasize:
1. The quality of essential oils is important. Not only is it important that the oils are from organic, sustainable sources but the processing of the oils needs to be done at low heat and low pressure to have the most potent effect. For this, doTerra and Young Living are the best. They are also the most costly. For things like my laundry, I use the Aura Cacia brand.
2. Essential oils work! I recommend taking a class in their use or finding an aromatherapist for guidance. I highly recommend trying them.
3. When I use oils on the body, I most often use them on our feet (think reflexology). For the children, I dilute the oils with another oil -jojoba, vitamin e, olive oil.
4. My most commonly used oils are peppermint, lavender, tea tree, ylang ylang, bergamot, eucalyptus, geranium, lemon, vetiver, and oregano.
A simple internet search will give you more information than you would probably like. My best advice is to find an aromatherapist or a good book on aromatherapy to use as a guide.
I am a big believer in connecting the world. Connection makes us closer as beings, it helps us to relate to each other and appreciate differences with understanding. That sounds a bit lofty, I know, but I do believe this. I also believe that this does not necessarily mean a grand gesture. It may be the mundane: how to make our everyday lives simple and fulfilling. This is why I share things that I find elsewhere on this interconnected world wide web – I am no genius and I do not have all the answers. Sometimes I come across other things that are helpful, ingenius or inspiring. I want to share those things too!
So, pardon today’s post. It is not an original thought of mine, and to be honest, not all of my posts will be. But I hope that they follow in the vein of this simple little blog.
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I recently came across this lovely, cost-saving idea on the web and have to share it with you. We have now tried this and it works. We have incredibly hard water. I’m talking about lime and calcium. When we first moved here I ruined my brand-new set of glass cups in the dishwasher because the water was too hard. I still need our drains and tub snaked every few months because of build-up. The following works, though I do have to place a cup in the bottom rack of my dishwasher about 3/4 full of vinegar as a replacement to Jet Dry. But vinegar is so much better than Jet Dry.
Homemade Dishwashing Cubes from Louise’s Country Closet
simplelittlespaces 