Quick DIY eyeglass holders

If you sew at all you probably have some small pieces of fleece in your stash of scraps. And if you have more than one person in your house you probably also have eyeglasses and sunglasses stashed in purses, cars, drawers and closets without cases.

Years ago I used up some of my fleece scraps making these very quick eyeglass holders. We still have them and still use them all the time.  I forget how many I made, but I made them in various sizes to hold different size glasses.  Those wrap around type sunglasses really need a big case, but reading glasses only require a slim little case.

I also had some scraps of flannel so I cut some small squares of it with pinking shears, to keep it from fraying, and added an extra, shorter piece of fabric when I sewed the edges of the case together to make a pocket for the little flannel cleaning cloth.

Composting: easier than you might think

If you read gardening books, articles and websites today they'll almost always lead you to believe that composting is an art and science for those who are willing to put in the time, space, money and effort. They make you think that the rest of us are better off buying it in big plastic bags at the garden center. What they are not telling you is that your great grandma did just fine with her composting by tossing scraps and yard waste in pile in the corner of her garden or yard.  When she needed some compost, she dug down a little until she found the layer where the compost was ready and used it.

My very simple and cheap compost bin. I planted morning glory seeds around the outside, but they are not up yet.

Great grandma didn't have a $150 black plastic bin that spins, she didn't have a two or three bin system with compost in various states of readiness, she didn't buy special worms, she didn't worry about getting just the right combination of "brown" and "green" materials to compost and she didn't worry about keeping the moisture level of her pile or the temperature at optimum levels. She didn't run her leaves through a shredder before adding them to get them in the right size pieces. Wonder of wonders, she still got great compost for her garden for FREE! She didn't even have to haul it home. She didn't put her potato peelings into a plastic bag to haul to her trash can to set out on the curb getting smelly in the sun and then sitting in a landfill not composting for decades.

We moved into the house we live in in Utah late last summer. I didn't take time to build a compost bin then so I just picked a spot in the garden area and tossed my kitchen scraps in a heap every day. We just have three people in our family so we don't create all that many scraps. Even with all the fruit peelings from canning, pumpkins from carving, daily coffee grounds, egg shells and tea bags and everything else I just had a small pile by spring. Even in frigid Utah temps and utter neglect it continued to break down into nice black compost.

Above you'll see a photo of the inexpensive, easy compost bin I just built. It wasn't really necessary that I have a bin at all, but it does help to keep stray dogs and magpies out. The magpies tend to scratch through it for earthworms and spread the pile out. It also keeps light weight things like dry leaves from blowing out. Simple containment is nice.

To build this bin I reused a metal fence post that I found on the property to anchor it and keep it from blowing away in our high winds. I then staked it in three places with some plant stakes I had. A couple of inexpensive pieces of rebar from the building supply would work just as well. I purchased a roll of 3'x10'  1/2" grid wire from the building supply, gently unrolled it easing it out of it's tight roll, looped it into a circle and used a few plastic zip ties to fasten the ends together. Then I put the wire part over the fence post and staked a plant stake on the other side to secure it in between the two. I used some other plant stakes to pin the other sides down. $16 in materials for this bin that is sturdy and plenty big enough for us.

As I mentioned, there are very few "rules" of composting that you truly have to follow. Here are some common sense things to think about:

1) keep animal products and greasy food out of your compost. Animal products will smell nasty and anything fatty or greasy will keep things from composting properly.

2) don't keep your pile too damp or put too many "wet" or "green" things in it. This will produce a compost that smells like manure and attracts insects. You don't want that. You want compost that smells like good, rich dirt. Layering in "brown" things like dried leaves, corn husks or shredded newspaper will keep this from happening.

3) light and ventilation will keep nasty things like fungus gnats and flies out of your pile. Those black plastic bins are pretty good for dry climates, but an open bin can be better for other places.

4) stirring the pile will help everything break down faster, but if you only have one bin it will mix the nearly done and just added things together which will keep you from using the compost. For a one bin system you can stir it all up well in the early autumn and then just layer things in the rest of the year. In spring you can dig down to find the layers of completed compost.

5) if your pile is very dry it won't break down. This is only really a problem in very dry climates or sheltered areas.

6) consider above factors when siteing your bin. Mine is at the edge of a wooded area to keep it partly shaded so it won't dry out too much and partly sunny so it won't stay too damp. It's about 30 ft from the kitchen door so taking scraps out is easy and right by the garden for convenience.

We'll be moving soon so we didn't till up the garden space.  I couldn't resist planting some heirloom tomatoes for the next residents anyway. These concrete scalloped edging pieces were around trees all over the property I removed them and re-used them here.

Bountiful Baskets: save money on produce

A little while ago I learned about this incredible produce co-op program that takes place every week in several Western States. Bountiful Baskets is a volunteer run organization. Members sign into their free, no-contract, accounts on-line early in the week and contribute money to pool together. Bountiful Baskets then buys produce from the same warehouses that grocery stores purchase their produce from. Early on Saturday mornings members arrive at a pick-up site in their communities to pick up their basket of produce. Take a look at the picture below.  This is what I received for my $15 contribution!

What I got in my Bountiful Basket this week!

My basket contained:

two crowns of brocolli
1 head of cauliflower
7 red potatoes
1 cucumber
8 ears of sweet corn
1 bunch of spinach
two containers of strawberries
1 watermelon
1 pineapple
1 bunch of bananas
3 apples
2 grapefruit

My contribution was $15 plus $1.50 in handling charges and a one-time basket fee of $3 since it was my first time participating. If you want organic produce, it is available for a contribution of $25. They also have some options each week of other things to buy like bread, tortillas, oriental produce, a box of peaches, etc.

Sounds good, right? Is there a catch? Well--yes--you don't get to choose what will be in your basket or how much. You get what you get. However, if you look at what I got you'll see that they pick items that most people generally enjoy. Yes, once in a while they will throw in something a little more exotic, but they know from experience what their members usually enjoy and that's mostly what they purchase. You will receive about half fruit and half vegetables. And, if you don't show up in the 20 minute pick-up window you will forfeit your basket--no refunds for no-shows since they already spent your money. You can have someone else pick up your basket if you can't make it or it will be donated.

I tried for several weeks to participate, but all the sites in my area were full. This is getting to be a popular program and it's spreading across the west. They just opened a new site near me so I was able to get in. Each site has a volunteer coordinator and many participants show up an hour early to prepare baskets and help distribute. I arrived on time at 7:30 AM at a local car dealership that allows Bountiful Baskets to use their service area on Saturday mornings and this is what it looked like:

Each person receives TWO of these baskets--one fruit--one veggie

These were mine. You must transfer them to your own basket to take home

You can participate only on the weeks you wish and you can buy more than one basket or share your basket with a friend

This is a great way to get more fruits and veggies in your diet and save money at the same time. My pick up site also just happens to be close to the Great Harvest Bread Company. After I pick up my basket I can swing in there for some fresh baked rolls to enjoy on a Saturday morning!

Sue

Recipe: Cherry Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Although I don't enjoy cooking very much I do like to bake. I enjoy coming up with variations on some of my favorite baking recipes. I concocted these yesterday and I think they may be my very best idea yet!

CHERRY ALMOND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries, whole
1 package of SLICED almond pieces (not slivered)

Mix ingredients together and drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet. Press ends of 3-4 sliced almond pieces into the top of each dough ball (make sure they are anchored so they don't fall off later). Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

As a shortcut you could mix the almond slices right into the batter, but I like them on top as garnish. You could also just press one whole almond into the top before baking.

I always make a double batch. The texture actually improves when you freeze them so you might as well make a double batch while you are at it.

How To: Make a window fan shade

My son has one of those half moon shaped windows in his room. Custom blinds for these things are very expensive. The best option I found was something called a Redi Shade you can buy at Lowes or other places for 20 something dollars and cut to size, but it comes in basic white and needs to be stuck down with velcro. This window is better uncovered in winter so that light and warmth come into the room, but in summer the sun just beats in due to a western exposure. I wanted something I can remove in winter and replace in summer without dealing with adhesive velcro strips.

This window is 22 inches high and 46 inches wide so it's not a perfect semi-circle. And the arch is something like 6 ft so I knew I needed a long piece of paper to make a fan for it. Rolls of wall paper were not wide enough. I went to a teaching supply store and got a roll of 48 inch by 12 ft paper that is used to cover bulletin boards. This one has a cloud design, but they had many colors and patterns. This cost about $8.50. It also comes in different sized rolls both larger and smaller.

At a building supply store I bought two wooden slats 1 1/2 inches wide by 2 ft long for $1 each and painted them to match. These attach to the ends of the fan to weigh it down and hold it in place in the window. These were cut to just under 22 inches and I drilled a hole in one end for a ribbon to go through later.

The roll of paper is long and wants to roll back up so you need to weigh it down to work with it. I cut 5 inches off the width so that when folded in half it would be just under the 22 inches (height of the window).

 

I found I couldn't work on a tabletop to fold the 12 foot roll in half (so that the finished fan would be double sided) because it kept wanting to roll up. I needed a long stretch of floor to work. 

Live and learn: it would have been MUCH easier to work with a single thickness instead of double. Also, I should have used double sided tape and sealed all three open edges before trying to fold it into a fan. If I did it again I would definitely not fold it, but only use one layer of paper.

I used my quilting ruler and a bone folder to impress guide lines every 2 inches so that I could fold it evenly. This took a long time! I didn't want to use a pencil since I wanted this to be double sided.

I used white glue to stick the wooden slats to the ends of the fan.

I used a hole punch and stick on hole reinforcements to make a path to string ribbon through to gather the fan. The ribbon also went through the holes that I drilled in the wooden slats.

Have you seen these?

I guess I'm behind the times, but I didn't know about these little things until we had an energy audit done by the gas company recently. They are little foam pads that you place inside the outlets on your exterior walls to insulate them. I just purchased a pack of 6 for $1.97 at Lowes. The energy auditor said they would pay for themselves in no time with energy savings. Find them with the weather striping and insulating supplies at your hardware store. They also have them to fit light switch plates.

The exterior walls of your home should be completely filled with insulation, but the outlet box itself takes up most of the wall space leaving very little insulation between it and the outside wall. Also, if you have sheet insulation instead of blow-in insulation in the exterior walls it's very likely the installer didn't get the little spaces around the outlet filled in very well. On a cold day feel the outlet cover and then the wall beside it. If there is even a little difference in the temperature you are loosing heat (or air conditioning) through the outlet. On the day we had our energy audit, despite the fact we have nice blown-in insulation in the walls, there was nearly a 10 degree difference in the temperature of the outlet and the wall right next to it. All these little "holes in the envelope" suck the warmth right out of your home through conductivity even if they aren't drafty. Most rooms have at least one outlet on every exterior wall. Some of my rooms have several.

These inexpensive foam pads can help quite a bit and only take a minute to install. Who doesn't want to save money on their heating and cooling bills for years to come?

Just remove the outlet cover with a regular screw driver, place the foam pad inside and replace the cover. You will normally just install these in exterior walls unless you know that wiring for interior wall outlets goes through an uninsulated attic space (through a garage or above attic insulation) which can conduct heat or cold temps through the conduits to your outlet.

While you are at it, be sure and check the insulation on your attic hatch. You can loose 10% of heat in your home through a non (or poorly) insulated attic hatch. That's a lot of money and it's an easy fix anyone can make for $5-10.

Organizing: Great way to save your paint

This is a tip I learned from my brother who is a house painter by trade. When he is done painting for a client he pours some of the the leftover paint into a plastic water bottle, puts a little water on top (for water based paints) to seal the paint and keep it from drying out and replaces the lid. His clients can easily pour off a little paint for touch ups. They love it.

I've done almost the same thing re-using a 50 oz Seventh Generation laundry soap bottle. The labels are easy to remove and I'm left with a sturdy bottle that will hold a little less than half a gallon. It has a wide mouth to make it easy to pour the paint in (I didn't even need a funnel) and to stir it later. It has a removable pour spout which should be very convenient when I need the paint again. Like most detergent bottles it has slits around the bottom of the pour spout so the excess paint will drain back into the bottle when it's poured. I poured in a little water to seal the top like my brother does.

Label the bottle very clearly. You can dab a little of the paint on so you can see the color just like they do at the paint store. Then be sure and label it with the brand of paint, the exact type of paint base it is and the exact formula for tinting the paint in case you ever need more. Be sure and get all those details right because one brand's Interior Satin will not be the same as another brand's and each brand has it's standard and premium and various other bases that are all different and will tint differently.

I can now store all those half-used up gallons of paint in less than half the space I did before and they are all ready when I need them.

Eco Friendly Laundry part 2: Bleaching and Boosters

This is the second in my series on Eco Friendly Laundry. You can find my first post here:

Eco Friendly Laundry part 1: Washing

As I mentioned last time, I've been making my own non toxic cleaners or buying earth friendly versions for years, but I've never managed to convert many others even though I've touted the benefits of how much better my products work than those old toxic standbys. So last time I started using  scare tactics.
Not my usual style, but, hey, I'm not making this stuff up! This week we continue on that frightening journey by talking about bleaches and laundry boosters.

So let's start with a few basic facts (which aren't necessarily all related, but you'll get the idea):

According to a 15 year study given at the Toronto Indoor Air Conference in 1990, women who work in the home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than those who work outside the home.

Indoor air quality is usually 25-100% worse than outdoor air quality. 

Many of the chemicals in your indoor air can build up in your body over time.

Nearly a quarter of all calls to poison control centers are about chlorine bleach.

Chlorine bleach has been linked to reproductive and immune disorders.

Chlorine bleach fumes make respiratory conditions such as asthma worse (no surprise there to anyone who's ever smelled bleach).

Chlorine bleach is corrosive. That's no surprise either, but it's not much good for your washer, your plumbing or the elastic in your undies. And it's definitely not a good idea for skin. I used to clean the educational building at our church which housed a day care center. The counters where they changed the babies' diapers by law had to be sprayed with bleach solution after every use. They were Formica and the surface was pitted and worn from the bleach and very hard to clean. Constant bleach use will make many surfaces more porous (so why do they put it in surface cleaners?).

Chlorine bleach is not a chemical that is normally found in nature. It is an unstable substance that mixes readily with other substances to form some pretty nasty chemical by products. 

We all know that chlorine bleach mixed with ammonia produces a highly toxic gas, but not many of us know that chlorine bleach mixed with anything acidic (vinegar, wine, etc) also produces toxic gas. If you've been bleaching the puddle the dog left on the tile to disinfect, it's really not a good thing.

Chlorine bleach mixed with some substances can form highly toxic dioxin, a carcinogenic chemical, which takes years to break down in the environment. From my research, it is unclear if this can happen in a household environment, but it can happen in the paper bleaching industry--a good reason to buy unbleached paper products.

Chlorine bleach mixed with certain organic materials can produce chloroform. Also, seems like this one can happen in the manufacturing of bleached paper and yet there are conflicting reports as to whether it can happen in the home.

Chlorine is used to make mustard gas. Some reports say that mixing it with dish detergent in the home can make a form of mustard gas.

and finally, the one that the bleach industry really doesn't want you to know about . . . .

Chlorine bleach causes many fabrics to turn yellow. 

Yeah, I'm not making that up.  Google it.

GASP!

So how are we supposed to keep our whites white and our colors bright? Well, die-hard environmentalists will tell you to hang your whites on a clothes line and let the sun bleach it while keeping your brights in the shade, but I know not everyone will do that, let's explore some alternatives.

Let's ignore the whole bleach issue at first and talk about just plain getting your clothes really clean. And therein lies the problem. Why not just use a really good laundry soap that gets your clothes clean and fresh instead of having to first treat for stains, then wash and bleach and soften and "perfume"? Good point, right? Well, in a perfect world that would work. In a perfect world your water will be nice and soft, you'd have the best washer on the market, your kids wouldn't play in the grass on their knees and no one in your family would spill or sweat, and all of your clothes would have the same fiber content and dyes would be stable, and . . . .  you get the picture. Laundry product makers just can't make any one product that works for all those variables. They really try, which is why the big commercial brands have crazy things like optical brighteners in them which fool the eye into thinking that your t-shirt is brighter and whiter than it really is. I'd personally rather have a t-shirt that is actually clean than one that just looks like it is. I'd rather have a t-shirt that smells nice simply because it lacks bad odors rather than one that smells nice because it has synthetic fragrance on it.

To get something really clean you first must consider the type of water you have. Is it soft or hard water? Most people have hard water. If you have hard water (and really even if you don't) you want to use a laundry booster. Laundry boosters condition your water so that your laundry soap just works so much better. Even if you have soft water laundry boosters are helpful in lifting stains and getting out smells.



Baking soda aka bicarbonate of soda can be found naturally although most of the stuff we buy is man made. Find it in the baking aisle of the grocery store. We all know it's great at removing odors and safe since you can even use it to brush your teeth. This is the mildest of the laundry boosters you can buy. It's alkaline, but mild enough to handle without gloves.

Borax is a naturally occurring mineral compound which has been mined and used by people for thousands of years. My family recently toured the ruins of borax mines in Death Valley California where they would haul the borax out with wagons hitched to a team of 20 mules--thus the brand name of "20 Mule Team Borax." Borax is more alkaline than baking soda and care should be taken to keep it off your skin and away from children. Because it's stronger it is also really good at killing germs, softening your water and removing stains. I use it in some of my stronger homemade cleaning solutions. Use according to package directions. Borax makes a great toilet bowl cleaner by the way.

Washing soda aka soda ash (not to be confused with washing powder) is also a naturally occurring mineral compound or it can be man made. It is a very alkaline compound which is so strong that it can also be used to strip wax off of floors and is great at getting out petroleum based stains. If you have a grease monkey in your family this might be the perfect booster for you. Once again, avoid getting it on your skin and keep it away from children. It can be found in the laundry aisle at most grocery stores and used according to package directions.

Before you rush out to buy a laundry booster, keep reading.

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But what about bleach? Well, we already know that chlorine bleach is not the answer so let's talk about oxygen bleach. I know, it sounds just plain silly to think that oxygen could clean anything. But some oxygen bleach is really using hydrogen peroxide to whiten. You know-it's the stuff they use to lighten hair and whiten teeth. OK, now it's making sense right? That's really very much a simplification of the explanation. You wouldn't want to pour liquid hydrogen peroxide on your colored clothing for instance. I'm no chemist (though I am married to one), so let's avoid the chemistry lesson and suffice it to say that most oxygen bleaches have been formulated to be color safe (check the label).

There are different types and brands of oxygen bleaches in both liquid and powder form. I like to keep things simple so I use a product that mixes a laundry booster like those mentioned above with hydrogen peroxide to make a great combination product. The one I use is Oxiclean. It's readily available and I can buy a 15 lb box of it at Costco which lasts me a good long time. You can also go to their website and print off coupons. Once again, it's a alkaline product and should be kept away from children.

How well does it work? Well, some of you know that I take TaeKwonDo. Our uniforms are white and made of a fabric that is very hard to get stains out of once it gets dirty. TaeKwonDo is not exactly a clean sport. We do wrestling and grappling moves on a not too clean floor, we do outdoor demonstrations and we sweat a lot. When the TaeKwonDo Master hands out uniforms he lets everyone know to not use chlorine bleach on them because bleach will cause them to disintegrate rapidly. The result of that is that most of the students run around in dingy grey uniforms. I use Oxiclean on mine and on my son's and ours stay nice and white. The difference is very noticeable.

So, now you have options. You can use a booster and a oxygen bleach or a combination product depending on your needs.

Please note that certain delicate fabrics such as some silks and wools should be washed with only the mildest of laundry soaps and these stronger additives should not be used on them.

Next time we'll delve into the wild and wacky work of stain removal.

Sue

A few things to do . . .

We recently purchased a new house with .4 acres in what I describe as a somewhat "jungly" condition. One of our neighbors mentioned that the previous owner rarely ever mowed.  We have our work cut out for us, but we are looking forward to making improvements. We've been living either in the desert or in an apartment for the last 7 years and haven't even owned a mower in that time, so this is a big change for us.

Here are some "before" photos of upcoming projects:

This is what I call  "the scary slope"  in front of the house. It's got various types of trees, a lot of crown vetch, an assortment of weeds, some junipers and who knows what else is hidden in there? The neighborhood cats enjoy stalking prey here and I'm scared to know what exactly lives in the mess a few yards from my front door. This photo was taken after my husband went after it with a machete. It was spilling out over the concrete making the sidewalk impassable.

This is the official garden area. This is after I spent an hour or more digging out buried tomato cages and pruning back some blackberry canes.  It's still a tangled mess that needs many more hours of work.  I plan to make a compost bin in one corner and a small salad/herb garden and flower cutting garden in the rest--nothing too ambitious.

I call this one the "hidden spruce."  Our yard slopes up in back so that this beautiful blue spruce could be seen from the back of the house nearly at eye level if the scrub oak wasn't in the way. It will be trimmed back a little. My husband already trimmed back some of the small branches.

And this is the front door with a patch of eroding dirt between the sidewalk and the garage and a patch of weeds on the other side. I'm thinking that a smallish conical tree with blue-green foliage on either side would be nice to set off the entrance. I also want to improve the curb appeal by sinking flagstones into the sod in front of the picture window to make a patio seating area to take advantage of the splendid mountain views from there.

The view.  No need to improve that.

Sue

DIY - a little change

I've always wanted to paint the insides of my closets robin's egg blue. I don't know why. Being military, we move around a lot and getting into a house and getting settled right away is usually a priority.  Once those closets are filled with items it has always seemed like too much of a project to empty them and paint them--who is going to notice after all?  This time, I had a long weekend between getting into the house and having our household goods arrive.  I put it to good use.

Coat closet before

Coat closet before

The closets in our new house had only had builder's primer on them for the last 17 years.  I think the builder used up various shades of paint or primer to get the job done.  I found beige, white, grey and a pinkish beige color. One closet had three different colors. The original owners put in a lot of wood shelves, but not all of them got painted so I had bare wood too. I also had builder's notes in pen and childrens' scribbles as well as the typical shoe marks, nail holes and it seems about 50 foam adhesive pads to remove. A previous owner of the home apparently had some sort of addiction to adhesive backed plastic cup hooks.

Pantry After

Pantry After

Above is the soft shade of robin's egg blue in the pantry closet. Afterward I put down thick clear ribbed shelf liner to protect the surface and it looks clean and nice.

A few of the closets got a french vanilla custard type of color instead of the blue and I still have one closet to go, but they do look so much better!

Stay tuned for more house and yard photos of our new place. There's lots still to do.

Sue

Household Help

Most people who know me know that I use mostly homemade natural cleaning products. I've spent quite a lot of time researching them and testing and adjusting recipes and trying things out. Here's one that works extremely well.

To remove hard water deposits on fixtures, soak paper towels or rags in white vinegar and drape the towels around the fixtures making sure to get good contact in all areas. Leave these on for at least an hour. Using the towels, rub the hard water deposits away. Even with heavy build-up you should get the first layer off and then be able to repeat the process as necessary.

Close the drain. Your fixtures will look like new!

I used this tip once on the floor of a textured tub in a house that we purchased in Tucson. It was when I was just learning about natural cleaning products. I had already tried to get the build up of grey, scummy hard water deposits off by soaking it in a couple of different commercial lime removal products, bleach and scrubbing it with harsh cleansers. Nothing worked. I finally closed the drain and dumped in half a gallon of pure white vinegar and half and hour later all of it was GONE!

I have other non-toxic cleaning recipes on my website that you can use for FREE!

Moving Tips from the Homefront Team

Last year, with the help of many contributors from the Homefront Team on Etsy, I wrote a blog post on Moving Tips. Well, it's that time of year again and we're preparing for another move and I know a lot of my other military friends are as well.  I know I'm referring to it as I prepare and thought it might be helpful for some of you too.


Sue

Reusable Shopping Bags

My husband did the grocery shopping yesterday. I forgot to send my reusable shopping bags with him. This is what he came home with:

24 plastic grocery bags for only $87.12 worth of groceries. They were floppy and a pain to unpack. I'm used to my strong, roomy, easy to fold and easy to carry totes. My totes can hold three times as much as a double bagged plastic bag. And now I have to remember to take these in to recycle. Regardless of the impact on the environment, these are a pain. I love my reusable totes. They even come in insulated versions:

They are easy to fold and stuff in one bag. Just grab and go. I put them right back in my car when I'm done using them so I'll have them the next time.

He also brought home several plastic produce bags. I like mine better. Aren't they cute? I made them with inexpensive tulle netting and cheap nylon cord. They are strong--I've been using them for a while and they can take even heavy loads. They are washable. They weigh very little. Produce doesn't tend to mold when you store it in these bags since they "breathe." The baggers at the store always want to know where I got them. I made them in different sizes. I gave some away for Christmas.


* Stores are making it easier to use reusable totes and grocery baggers actually like them!
* Most reusable totes cost $1 or less. Insulated versions are often around $2.
* My Whole Foods gives a $.05 discount for every reusable bag.
* My Trader Joes has a drawing every day for a $10 gift card for people who use reusable bags.
* When I lived in Korea, the stores charged about $.05-.10 for every bag they had to provide. Many municipalities in the US are considering doing the same.
* Americans use 84 BILLION plastic bags a year
* DECA reports that the price of plastic bags has gone up 84% in the last few years. That price gets passed on to the customers.
* DECA reports that 20,635,800 plastic bags were used by U.S. military commissary customers worldwide in 2007. If just 10% of those were replaced with reusable bags it would be a savings of $2 million a year. Imagine the savings if, say, Walmart customers used more reusuable bags!

Household Tip: Organizing Your Grocery Shopping Trip

I confess. I hate grocery shopping! I try to get in and out as fast as I can. I believe this tip has shaved 20 minutes off of my grocery run each week (over 17 hours per year). If you tend to do one main shopping trip each week, and shop at the same store most of the time, this will work wonders for you.

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1. Visit your store with pen and paper in hand and make a list of what type of items the store stocks on each aisle. Just note general categories and note the aisle numbers. For instance: #13 baking/canned beans, veg & fruits/soups

2. On the computer make a one page, aisle by aisle, blank shopping list that you can print off. In addition to the aisle by aisle list you'll have all those items that can be found around the perimeter of the store such as "seasonal/holiday," "deli/bakery," "produce," "meats," and "dairy." Put those on your list in the order that you come to them in the store. Leave extra space under each category that you buy a lot of items in. I have the biggest space under "produce."

3. If there is another store that you almost always visit on the same trip, make a category for that store on the end of your list.

4. Print copies of your list (scrap paper that has already been printed on one side is great for this) and attach one to your refrigerator each week. Instruct your family to mark down any items you need under the proper category on the list as you discover you need them. No more "I didn't know we were out of ketchup . . ."

5. When you get to the store you can glance quickly at what you need in each aisle or section of the store, you won't have to stop to mark things off your list. You can see which aisles you don't need to go down at all which saves a lot of time and frustration--especially if you shop with young children.

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Additional tips for your grocery trip:

* Plan weekly menus and mark all the items you will need down on your list--don't try to guess at the store.
* Sort coupons before you go.
* Wipe out your refrigerator shelves before you shop when they are at their emptiest for the week.
* Grab your reusable shopping bags, or better yet, put them back in your car after you unpack your groceries so you always have them handy.
* Will you need a cooler or insulated bags?

Gift Bags / Pillow Cases ?

I love items that have multiple uses and are eco-friendly. I grew up in house where gift wrap was often made from a cereal box and the comics section of the newspaper. For years I have been using inexpensive fabrics to make my own re-usable gift bags. My family loves my gift bags too because they make it so fast and easy to wrap gifts and wrapping odd shaped items is no problem.


My son, Caleb had his 8th birthday party the other day. He picked fabric from my stash of oriental print cotton fabrics that I purchased when we lived in South Korea. I whipped up these travel size pillow cases that double as goodie bags for his party.


Each child took one of these home filled with some toys and goodies and they can use them again as gift bags or put a travel sized pillow inside for car trips or sleepovers. When I make bags that do not double as pillow cases, I sew satin ribbon right into the seam to use to tie the bag closed and sometimes also sew gussets into the bottom corners so the bag has a flat bottom.


These also worked well for when the kids broke open the pinatas my son made. There was plenty of room in the bags that the kids could stuff their candy treasures inside.


Above: These are the pinatas that my son made for his party. The small one is a Malayan tapir (Caleb's favorite animal). The spider was fun as a pinata as it lost an eye or a leg with every good whack, which the kids liked. It looked cool hanging from its string upside down.

Household Tip: a little light

Small flashlights seem to multiply at our house. They are tucked away in junk drawers, nightstands, on keychains, in vehicles and camping gear. Yet, when the lights go out, we can't seem to find one in the dark.

Hammer a small nail into a wall in a convenient, yet out of the way, spot and hang the small flashlight. Many small flashlights have lanyards attached already or attach one or a piece of string.

Above: I attached a jewelry lanyard to this flashlight and hung it in the cupboard under the stairs. There is a light in that closet, but the closet turns a corner and the back of the "L" is always dark.

Above: This flashlight hangs in my garage just beside the door to the house. We don't have a basement, but if we did I'd hang on near the stairs. Utility rooms, tool sheds and pantries are also good places.

Tacy's Soup

It's good to have a few of those tried and true recipes that can be whipped up for a family meal in no time. This Southwestern style, hearty soup was invented by our friend, Tacy. Everything in it is a pantry staple in our home so I can make it any time. It has a creamy/cheesy tasting base that actually has NO cheese in it (shhhh, don't tell your family--they'll never guess).

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup

3 cups chicken broth

28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded or chunked (canned or leftover works well)

7 oz can chopped green chiles (or two smaller cans)

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

chili powder to taste

salt to taste (you won't need any unless you used low sodium products)

black pepper to taste

Saute onion in olive oil. Add condensed soup (do not thin with water), stir. Slowly whisk in chicken broth. Add tomatoes, chicken, green chile and spices. Heat through.

Serves 8. This makes a large pot of soup and is great for leftovers. Serve with tortilla chips for a little crunch.

This is also something that I make when camping as nothing in it needs to be refrigerated if you use canned chicken.

Moving Tips

I wrote an article on moving tips for military familes for the Homefront Team Blog. Many of my team members contributed great tips. Between us we have A LOT of experience in moving. Most of the tips will work for civilian moves as well.  If you are getting ready for a move, go check it out.

Kitchen Tip: Save time and money!

In our home we have a lot of stir frys since it's a great, quick way to feed the family a little protein and several servings of vegetables. Since my husband likes to eat low-carb, he can have the stir fry and the rest of us add rice or noodles. The money saving part comes in by buying large family packs of chicken or inexpensive cuts of lean beef at the supermarket or warehouse store and using small amounts of meat and a lot of vegetables in each stir fry. So, what do I do with those large packages and how does this save time?

I pop the whole package, as is, into the freezer for an hour or two to firm it up for cutting into very thin slices. When it is partially frozen, it cuts very easily. I rinse the meat and then slice the entire package and put the slices into a large bowl. I then add all the ingredients that I would normally add for a stir fry marinade. For a couple of our favorite recipes, look below.

Leave just enough in the bowl to use for that night's dinner. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator to marinate for an hour or more. The rest gets divided up into quart size freezer storage bags in portions large enough for your family. Seal the bags carefully pressing out all the air and pat the bags flat so they freeze quickly. Freeze them right away. The meat will marinate as it thaws when you are ready to use it for a quick, healthy family meal. On a busy night, half the work of meal prep will already be done for you and you save time in general by prepping everything for several meals all at the same time.

Pictured above:  Citrus Chicken Stir Fry with yellow summer squash, white onion "petals" and delicate enoki mushrooms.

CITRUS CHICKEN STIR FRY MARINADE

adjust the amount of each ingredient according to the size of the batch and your family's taste

fresh orange juice

low sodium soy sauce

fresh ginger, minced

green onions, sliced

pepper, optional

small amount of fresh orange or lemon zest (for more citrus flavor)

SAVORY BEEF STIR FRY MARINADE

adjust the amount of each ingredient according to the size of the batch and your family's taste

low sodium soy sauce

small amount of rice vinegar

oyster sauce

fresh garlic, minced or sliced very thin

fresh ginger, minced

green onions, sliced

drizzle of roasted sesame oil

pepper, optional

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To Prepare Stir Fry:

Thinly slice vegetables of your choice and have them ready to add to the stir fry.

Heat a wok or large frying pan and quickly saute the marinated meat in a small amount of peanut or canola oil. Add vegetables one by one according to how long they will take to cook--for instance, the delicate, straw like, enoki mushrooms in the stir fry pictured above were added just before the heat was turned off. Do not overcook the vegetables. This can take some practice, but it always tastes good anyway. If you want to thicken the sauce with cornstarch mixed with water, do this at the end. Optional:  top with chopped peanuts, green onions or pepper flakes.

Serve with rice or noodles if you like. For a nutrition boost I usually serve it with fragrant brown basmati rice, brown jasmine rice or very quick cooking buckwheat soba noodles if I forgot to start the rice 40 minutes early (brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook).

Enjoy,  Sue