Creative "Chores" for the Microwave

Supposedly, the #1 use of the microwave is popping corn!

If this is the major use of your microwave -- or maybe defrosting -- you are not taking advantage of this versatile workhorse.


TRY:

• Disinfecting and deodorizing sponges -- Soak a dirty sponge in water and white vinegar or lemon juice. Without wringing it out, place it on a microwave safe plate and zap it on high for one minute.
• Disinfecting plastic cutting boards -- Wash the board well, rub it with the cut side of a lemon and then heat it for one minute.
• Making s'mores -- Put the marshmallow on a graham cracker, zap it until puffy (watch carefully). Immediately top it with chocolate squares and a second cracker, smoosh it down and enjoy! (Instead of expensive Hershey bars, I often make chocolate frosting and frost the graham cracker instead.)
• Watch a "Cheep" expand -- A silly but popular pastime when the traditionally yellow addictive chicks fill the candy shelves in Spring.
• Toasting nuts, bread crumbs or coconut -- Spread them out on a plate and heat on high for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Watch carefully, usually they will continue to toast for another minute after removing them from the microwave. 
• Roasting Garlic -- Slice off the top of the head of garlic to reveal all the cloves. Place the head in a small, deep dish, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Spoon 2 Tablespoons of water into the bottom of the dish, cover with plastic wrap and cook at medium power for 7 to 7-1/2 minutes. It takes 45 minutes to roast small garlic in the big oven!
•  Getting more juice from citrus fruits -- If you need lemon, lime or orange juice and your fruit has been in the refrigerator, microwave the piece for 20 seconds before squeezing the juice out. More juice is released from room temperature or slightly warm citrus fruits. 
• De-crystallizing honey -- If your honey has solidified, it can be restored to its liquid state by uncovering the jar and heating on medium power for 30 seconds to one minute. (Note: If it is in a plastic container that is not microwaveable, transfer it to an appropriate container before doing this.)
• Steaming vegetables -- frozen vegetables can be steamed without adding any water. Fresh vegetables can be steamed with just the little remaining water that clings to them after rinsing them. Simply place them, as much as possible, in one layer in a dish, cover tightly with plastic wrap and cook on high. Timing will vary so watch and check. Tender items (spinach, mushrooms, snow peas, etc.) should be checked after 30 seconds. Crunchy items like carrots, after 4 minutes.
• Partially cooking vegetables you are going to grill on the barbecue to save cooking time -- Prick new potatoes so steam can escape and heat them for 2 minutes, bell peppers for 1 minute.

What If . . . your first aid cupboard is bare

Someday the situation may need more
than a kiss to make it better!
 Being ready "just in case" brings
peace of mind.

when there
is an emergency? 
   
Maybe this blog will spur you on in this important area of preparedness. Don't let the length of the list scare you off.
The items  can be acquired over time
and divided among a group.


Several years ago our women's church group began making plans to assemble simple but  comprehensive first aid kits                                       
to have at the ready for emergencies---not the type you would use (or break into) for minor day-to-day scrapes and scratches.                                               


We decided on an assembly date three months in the future, had
sign-up sheets for those interested in participating, and asked everyone to begin setting aside a few dollars whenever they could, so money would not be a burden at assembly time.


A local pharmacist helped us by compiling a list of basic needs, and also offered a discount on the supplies he could. We decided the entire kit needed to fit in a 5-gallon plastic bucket---waterproof and portable.


There is nothing exotic nor extravagant ----  basics you would find in medicine cabinets of long ago. 


We included instructions for use as necessary, as will as expiration dates when applicable.


Note: The "vials" listed are small pill containers/bottles from the pharmacy. 


First Aid booklet
1 pencil
2 plastic spoons
1 tweezers
1 scissors
1 eye dropper
3 medicine measures
3 paper cups
3 paper bags
8 tongue depressors
1 roll toilet paper
1 flashlight with batteries 
1 box strike anywhere matches
1 spool white thread
2 needles
4 safety pins
1 single edge razor blade
1 bar hand soap/bottle hand sanitizer
1 vial household bleach
2 surgical gloves
1 rectal thermometer
1 vial baking soda
1 vial table salt
1 bottle Paregoric
1 bottle rubbing alcohol
1 bottle hydrogen peroxide
1 bottle betadine
1 bottle aspirin
1 jar vaseline
1 bottle caladryl
1 vial oil of cloves
1 bottle Milk of Magnesia
1 tube Neosporin
1 Jar Mentholatum
1 pkg. Boric Acid Powder
1 bottle coke syrup
1 botttle Spirits of Ammonia
1 box Epsom Salts
1 bottle Ipecac
1 box assorted band-aids
4 Kerlix sponges
1 roll @" gauze bandage
1 roll 1" adhesive tape
1 4" elastic bandage
2 plastic trash bags


"When the hour of need arrives, the hour of preparation is past!"

Where's the Post?

OOPS!

Today is Friday! Monday I told you I was going to start posting on Tuesdays and Fridays.  


I wrote Friday's post on Wednesday and . . . simply pushed the wrong button! 


I'll be back on Tuesday!

Swimming in Vegetables . . .

where the pool once was 

Dave and son Luke --- the water volleyball champs for 3 years running!

This week I have been posting about our cheap-and-make-do gardening efforts.  The first two posts were ways we have been successful using a variety of small and small-ish containers----in the tiny area that wasn't taken up by our 15x30 foot above ground swimming pool.

The pool died three years ago shortly before a good friend, who lived at the end of our street, offered us her raised garden boxes complete with soil. The gift was unbelievable! Moving them seemed overwhelming---if not impossible!

As words from an old Roger Miller song encourages,  "knuckle down, buckle down, do it, do it, do it!"

Impossible just takes a little longer!

We left all but one section of the pool's metal framework in place. With the exception of the one box  shown in the photo below, the others fit perfectly within it. 

As we enter the garden (through the one removed framework area) notice how that one "outside" box snuggles perfectly between the framework and the steps to the deck---couldn't have fit better if it was custom made for that spot.

The three tires in the lower left have potatoes planted in them. We planted in the second tire and as the plants grew higher we added the third tire. Again, when the plant grew up above the third one, we added a fourth.You remove the tires one at a time to harvest. 

Last year we added a compost area where the white buckets are. It is amazing how fast it fills up with the peelings and trimmings.

There is peace and satisfaction in watching the garden grow. There is great pleasure in picking the produce and often, eating it right on the spot. . .and sharing it.

And sometimes there is humor.

Once you have your produce, whether from home, market, or farmer’s market, it needs to be washed. The following, from internet sites, are homemade washes/preservers and comments from their contributors.

● I have been using this for years. It can be used in spray form or as a soak. It  really works and works very well! no chemicals 100% natural and will remove dust and dirt and kill any little bugs and bacteria not to mention it costs only pennies to make and when used as a soak it will help preserve your veggies so that they will last quite a lot longer. Because of the fresh lemon juice any unused spray may be refrigerated until used again, I just usually use up the 1 cup and then discard the rest --- the exact amounts do not really matter a little more will not hurt, I really don't even bother to measure I just eyeball everything. If you are using a smaller bowl then reduce the vinegar to 2 tablespoons and salt to 1 tablespoon it will work just as well.

SPRAY

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 cup water 

2 tablespoons salt 

Put all ingredients into a spray bottle (be careful as it will foam up) shake gently to mix, then spray on veggies or fruit, allow to sit for about 2-5 minutes and then rinse under cold water.

SOAK

1/4 cup vinegar

2 T. salt

Fill a clean sink or a large basin with cold water; add in vinegar and salt, then swish around with hands (you may also do this in a large bowl). Place the fruit and/or veggies in and allow to sit for 25-30 minutes although I have even left soaking for over an hour (this will not effect the flavor at all, the vinegar cleans and the salt draws out any little bugs, dirt and other small unwanted things, it also will remove some of the wax. Rinse under cold water and dry.

● Vinegar-less Wash

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

2 tablespoons baking soda 

1 cup water 

Put this mixture in a spray bottle. After spraying, let produce sit for a few minutes. Rinse well. 

● This writer states she saw the following vegetable spray on Oprah and notes: Be sure to mix this in a DEEP pitcher. The baking soda and vinegar will react and foam everywhere if you do not.

1 cup water 

1 cup vinegar 

1 tablespoon baking soda 

20 drops grapefruit seed extract (you can find this in your healthy food store, natural antibacterial) (optional) 

Mix all ingredients together in a DEEP pitcher. Pour into a spray bottle. Spray on fruits and or vegetables and allow to sit for 5 or 10 minutes before rinsing.

More Gardening Show and Tell. . .

More Creative Gardening Containers continuing from yesterday's post.

But first, a little something about the little plastic write-on garden stakes, about 5 inches long, you use to mark/identify your seedlings and plants. I found them at Wal-Mart for $2.99 per pack. I think there were 10 in the pack.

Making the Most of Discards                                   
At a thrift store two years ago, I happened on an used thin metal mini-blind for $2.50.With scissors, as I need them, I cut each blind-strip into the lengths I want---cut a point into one end of each--- and that is all there is to it! 
Enough plant stakes to last a life-time for less than the price of 10!


The next photos will show our movable containers garden when the pool area was still filled with the swimming pool---which took up the other two-thirds of our yard.

A New Life for Retired Tires

The bright pots are wastebaskets from the dollar store filled with bright critter-avoiding chrysanthemums.
The red poppies in the lower right are having their turn in the blue lower half of a 55 gallon water storage barrel.
It has also successfully housed tomatoes, and wonderful come-back wild flowers.
The greenery by the fence on the left is the wrap around part of a grapevine whose leaves
seasonally provide the allusion of coolness and  even produces grapes on occasion.

I doubt if there is a tire store anywhere that will turn you away when you ask for their old tires. One cheerfully encouraged, "for every tire you want, you should take two more."

In all cases we were free to pick whatever kinds/sizes we wanted from the discard pile. We chose matched sets for uniformity in stacking. And while, they don't show in any of the photos, small trailer-type, that we used for small planters. Some people use tractor size but they were too big for us to handle.

There are many Internet sites on gardening in tires. There are sites that show you how to cut a tire and turn it inside out---making a larger planting surface.  That is a lot of hard/heavy work!  We got increased planting surface simply by selecting low profile tires.

Others show you how to decorate them.  You can learn how cut them and paint them to turn them into really bright fun flower containers if you are so inclined. Both are beyond our strength or creativity.

We simply painted ours white to reflect the heat, as explained in yesterday's post.

Some sites strike fear of the tire materials that may leach into the garden soil and compromise the plant and the safety of its produce. Many others dismiss that as untrue.

Our cheapskate nature solved any potential leaching problem

Because we did not want to waste our good potting soil filling the insides of the tires, we made cylinders of heavy plastic to fit inside the stacked tires. We filled the cylinders with the soil --- 
conserving and protecting at the same time!

When the heat became too much for the plants, we erected a
sun cloth to provide some protection.

I'm going outside now to finish planting the lettuce, spinach, radishes, and cabbage.
We are also going to try to baby along two Early Girl tomato plants (one planted directly into the garden, surrounded by 4 one-gallon milk jugs filled with warm water and wrapped in a sheet of clear plastic; and      the other residing in a 5-gallon plastic bucket in our half-deck greenhouse).

It is fun to try something new each season.

On Friday, when I am back at the computer, we'll step through the entrance to the previous pool area.

And. . .I'll  post recipes for cheap and effective home-made vegetable wash.

How to Creatively Garden in Bits and Pieces

There isn't much better than stepping outside and picking  your own salad fixins'

We are not quite there yet, but it is beginning to look a lot like Spring!

And where we live it is planting time for lettuce, onions, potatoes, carrots, radishes, peas. . .with spinach following quickly.

Last August 18th, when my blog was about a month old, I posted on gardening-in-a-bag, along with the instructions--- and other cheap mini-garden solutions.

 http://thecreativecheapskate.blogspot.com/2011/08/gardening-in-bag-or-bags.html

SHOW and TELL

Today to start off the new gardening season I have a little tell----along with a lot of show. Our backyard and garden has been, and still is, a work in progress. These photos were taken over a period of three years----with some at various stages throughout the season.

Our back yard is quite small but the bigger problem is everything in our little community is built on lava!

Raised beds or containers are our only option. And the older we get the higher we try to raise them!

If you have the money, the variety of commercial containers is unlimited. If money is an issue, the variety of creative containers is limited----but only by your imagination and ingenuity.

We choose to put our garden money into soil enhancements. I think the plants appreciate that!

Along with the shopping bags, we've used dollar-store pots, dishpans, washtubs, popcorn-type tins, plastic buckets and . . .

I think these are culvert pipe remnants --- pieces left over at construction sites --- that we have put in the strip alongside our carport.  They are smooth on the inside. These were originally black (which is a good heat absorb-er but since we live in a very hot climate we painted ours white to reflect the heat.) 

When using tall containers, only about the top 12 inches needs to be good soil. The bottom part can be filled with non-degradeable stuff --- rocks, Styrofoam pellets, etc. I have read that pop cans work well if you first punch a couple of extra holes in them.  Fill in the spaces with dirt and then top it off with the plant-loving materials.

For nine years we had a large above ground swimming pool, with our garden here and there around the rest of the yard. When the pool "died", we expanded. The stairs lead to what was the deck, half of which is now a green house.

The colorful tubs were a wonderful thrift store find. I don't know what they were originally used for (each one is hooked to the other by pieces of  rope) but with holes drilled in the bottom they are perfect on the steps. In this picture they were filled with herbs.

This year the stairs and deck are white, the herbs are being moved to the square container next to the stairs and come summer, colorful heat-loving vinca will fill the tubs. 

A blue plastic dishpan sits on a chunk of old wood in front of the oddly-placed power box. Previously it held a taller container filled with perennial garlic chives --- another attempt to disguise the box. Last year a green plastic rectangular dishpan filled that spot, planted with colorful decorative sweet potato vines. They were supposed to drape and dangle as they grew. That didn't happen but they still looked nice and drew the eye away from the ugly box (a little).

Tomorrow, Tuesday, I will show you our first larger and semi-permanent containers which were/are very successful.

Friday we will expand into our old pool space.

The "world" would have us believe differently but. . .

the truth is no other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God.  

The media and Society (whoever they are or whatever that is) would have us believe that being a homemaker and raising children is demeaning --- that we are not reaching our full potential unless we are making something of ourselves in the workplace.

They are
Trying to make bad good and good bad-----
Trying to denigrate morality as a thing of the past----
Trying to delude the vast majority into believing they are the disillusioned minority----

We must turn away from everything that is leading us in those directions. We must realize that human nature is such that:
First we abhor. . .
Next we endure . . .
Then we embrace . . .

We must be conscious of the many subtle ways we are constantly being lured toward lowering our standards.

The most secure way to escape this increasingly entangling web is to follow the words of Joshua in the Old Testament:

Joshua 24:15

This simple and priceless reminder can be created at almost no cost with very little time, effort or talent.

 This one was done with embroidery floss on a piece of counted cross stitch fabric.  It was "framed"  in a used wooden embroidery hoop. You can also use a piece of small-squared gingham as the background guide.  It can also be hand-printed or computer-printed on paper or card stock.

May God Bless you and your family.

Simply, Gail