Have you seen it? My JuJu? The quan? My Domestic Divaness? My kitchen mojo?
I spent most of my day cleaning. I've gotten behind on my 6 week rotation. Like, 3 weeks behind. Darn that end of the school year and kiddie viruses!
Anyhow, yesterday I scoured the kitchen. And when I say scour, I do mean it. Wiped down the cupboards, cleaned the floors...I even wiped down the baseboards! Today was the kids' rooms, and that included all of their toys.
A while back, I noticed that I never cleaned the kids' toys. And there's heaven-only-knows what kind of food and drink residue all over that mess. So, in this 6 week rotation, I added "cleaning toys" to the list. What an ordeal.
Now remember, I clean as organically as possible. I pretty much only break out the bleach when the stomach flu comes to town. So, as I'm looking at these wooden puzzle pieces, that are just downright nasty, I struggled with what to use. I have a can of Lysol outside, no...that wouldn't do. I grabbed my Better Basics book and looked. Ah! An antibacterial spray! And I had all the essential oils to make it!
Mix into spray bottle:
5 cups water
20 drops sweet orange oil
10 drops eucalyptus oil
10 drops lavender oil.
Spray and let sit on whatever needs disinfecting. You can wipe it off after 15 minutes if that is preferable.
I used this for all things that I couldn't stick in the wash machine with some borax, or the dishwasher on antibacterial setting. Basically, that means anything wood, paper, or electronic in nature (dolls with mechanisms that cry). I wiped everything I could down with my vinegar mixture, and then I sprayed this on for antibacterial efforts. This is actually suggested for cutting boards, so feel free to spray it there, food prep areas, and even baby's high chair. Better n' bleach!
I also made myself a new window cleaner. I noticed that the straight vinegar was leaving some streaks, so I decided to try something new. Effective, streak-free, and clean! Guess I can't argue with that:
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
1/2 tsp liquid soap
2 cups of water
a few drops of oil (I'm into peppermint right now, so I used that.)
Toss into a spray bottle and get to work!
Anyhow I focus on the cleaning because my side has nothing to write about today. Something went wrong in the meal planning this week. I had planned for leftovers today, but the husband ended up taking yesterday's dinner for lunch. The hubby is pretty good about eating what I serve - but he's not thrilled to eat the same thing for lunch and dinner every day. So, I decided on some quickie salads for dinner. I pulled out my bag and realized that the lettuce was starting to go bad. The husband suggested Dijorno, I called blasphemy, and took stock of my kitchen. Tomato, fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, onion, basil, 1/2 loaf of French Bread...ah yes, Panini!
Epic failure, my friends. EPIC failure.
I was way excited to try this because I love paninis and I've read a bit about making them. I made sure to include enough cheese, layered throughout, so that the cheese would act like glue for the two bread pieces. I got a glass bread loaf pan, put three cans of food in it, to make a "weight" that would smoosh the bread together.
And still, when I tried to flip it, I killed it.
So I had a panini skillet type meal, where I at least tried to save the vegetables. Since this was the second meal gone wrong, I gave up and told the husband to find his own food. Clearly, my kitchen juju was used up for the day. Maybe I spent too much time in a vinegar and essential oil haze? Maybe it's the fact that my son was up every hour on the hour last night calling for "moooommmy."
Whatever, the juju magic is gone for the day.
Until tomorrow...I'll see if I have any luck with the fried rice.
I spent most of my day cleaning. I've gotten behind on my 6 week rotation. Like, 3 weeks behind. Darn that end of the school year and kiddie viruses!
Anyhow, yesterday I scoured the kitchen. And when I say scour, I do mean it. Wiped down the cupboards, cleaned the floors...I even wiped down the baseboards! Today was the kids' rooms, and that included all of their toys.
A while back, I noticed that I never cleaned the kids' toys. And there's heaven-only-knows what kind of food and drink residue all over that mess. So, in this 6 week rotation, I added "cleaning toys" to the list. What an ordeal.
Now remember, I clean as organically as possible. I pretty much only break out the bleach when the stomach flu comes to town. So, as I'm looking at these wooden puzzle pieces, that are just downright nasty, I struggled with what to use. I have a can of Lysol outside, no...that wouldn't do. I grabbed my Better Basics book and looked. Ah! An antibacterial spray! And I had all the essential oils to make it!
Mix into spray bottle:
5 cups water
20 drops sweet orange oil
10 drops eucalyptus oil
10 drops lavender oil.
Spray and let sit on whatever needs disinfecting. You can wipe it off after 15 minutes if that is preferable.
I used this for all things that I couldn't stick in the wash machine with some borax, or the dishwasher on antibacterial setting. Basically, that means anything wood, paper, or electronic in nature (dolls with mechanisms that cry). I wiped everything I could down with my vinegar mixture, and then I sprayed this on for antibacterial efforts. This is actually suggested for cutting boards, so feel free to spray it there, food prep areas, and even baby's high chair. Better n' bleach!
I also made myself a new window cleaner. I noticed that the straight vinegar was leaving some streaks, so I decided to try something new. Effective, streak-free, and clean! Guess I can't argue with that:
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
1/2 tsp liquid soap
2 cups of water
a few drops of oil (I'm into peppermint right now, so I used that.)
Toss into a spray bottle and get to work!
Anyhow I focus on the cleaning because my side has nothing to write about today. Something went wrong in the meal planning this week. I had planned for leftovers today, but the husband ended up taking yesterday's dinner for lunch. The hubby is pretty good about eating what I serve - but he's not thrilled to eat the same thing for lunch and dinner every day. So, I decided on some quickie salads for dinner. I pulled out my bag and realized that the lettuce was starting to go bad. The husband suggested Dijorno, I called blasphemy, and took stock of my kitchen. Tomato, fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, onion, basil, 1/2 loaf of French Bread...ah yes, Panini!
Epic failure, my friends. EPIC failure.
I was way excited to try this because I love paninis and I've read a bit about making them. I made sure to include enough cheese, layered throughout, so that the cheese would act like glue for the two bread pieces. I got a glass bread loaf pan, put three cans of food in it, to make a "weight" that would smoosh the bread together.
And still, when I tried to flip it, I killed it.
So I had a panini skillet type meal, where I at least tried to save the vegetables. Since this was the second meal gone wrong, I gave up and told the husband to find his own food. Clearly, my kitchen juju was used up for the day. Maybe I spent too much time in a vinegar and essential oil haze? Maybe it's the fact that my son was up every hour on the hour last night calling for "moooommmy."
Whatever, the juju magic is gone for the day.
Until tomorrow...I'll see if I have any luck with the fried rice.
2 comments:
Oh man, I need you to come clean my house.
I've been thinking I was doing well by using that Clorox Anywhere stuff. Ugh!
My friend Andrea at http://www.aromaticsinternational.com has some recipes for cleaning solutions on her site. I know everything in her house (from shampoo to kitchen cleander) is homemade with her oils.
I should go over there for a further tutorial...
You should! It's a very long road from bleach to organic. I know when I first started, I felt totally overwhelmed and didn't want to do anything.
The very first thing I started with was my straight vinegar in a spray bottle. I just trained myself to use IT rather than my clorox bottle. Then I made a generic "antibacterial" solution, and started mixing the two. Then I started making things as I needed them. Now, when I need to clean something, the first thing I reach for is the Better Basics book. It generally has a solution for me.
If you're interested in getting started, make sure you have lavender oil, tea tree oil, borax, vinegar, olive oil, and washing soda on hand. Oh, and water :) You can get started with that. Also, spray bottles or Ball jars are cool too. Then see if you can't borrow the Better Basics book from a local library, to see if you like it.
The Better Basic's book has everything from shampoo to finger paints. Even ways to make your own paints and pest control!
Thanks for the comment!
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