Vegan For LIFE !

       The end of January I began my vegetarian life again with juicing. During the following month I lost about 23 lbs. Also during the following month I adjusted my diet to Vegan and plant based. After that first month of juicing, I have noticed several changes. Except my weight. It seems it kinda stalled for me right now, so I will probably increase my juicing again. I have been drinking a fresh squeezed juice every morning of two red grapefruit and a large orange. after drinking this, I can no longer drink store bought chemical crap. I have eliminated almost all processed foods, most refined sugar, almost all oils,all meat, and dairy.
       Another plus, my husband also began this journey with me. Although he is only vegan at home, but its a huge start.
      For many yrs, 35 yrs to be exact,I suffered with constant heartburn. It began with my first pregnancy. From then on I kept a bottle of Tums by my bed for the 2-3 episodes at night, Tums in my purse, and Tums in my kitchen. Over the past few yrs, it had gotten worse. I began to also have reflux so bad I would suddenly inhale at times which allowed the acid to get sucked into my lungs a couple of times. This is not pleasant! I suddenly choked up and couldn't breath.  As a nurse I know that all this can lead to erosion of the esophagus and possible cancer later on.
    I realized a couple weeks ago, that I have had NO HEARTBURN OR REFUX since changing my diet back in January. None.....NADA!
While juicing, my husband noticed I was no longer turning sideways, and holding onto the wall while easing myself down the two steps of my living room. I was taking this two steps like a normal person...head on... with almost no knee pain now. While strictly juicing, I had NO PAIN!
      I have also taken medicine for my blood pressure for years. At one point a few yrs ago I was even prescribed another one on top of the two tabs I was taking. My B\P was taking spells of shooting up, sometimes as high as 180\100. even while on the two pills. But for side effects reasons, I went off the third pill. After changing my diet, I eliminated one of the other pills. I was now down to one tab a day. My blood pressure was staying around 115/70. Fantastic! I then tried for about a week to get rid of the final one, but my B\P started easing up, so I will wait a little longer on it. I am almost there tho.
    I am also eating what I want. No longer starving to just keep from gaining weight. Even though I have hit this little plateau  for weight loss. These are some major changes for such a short period of time. I have had to adapt my way I cooking. I was a traditional country cook. Meat and potatoes kind of cook.  I still make homemade bread occasionally, but I now also make homemade non dairy butter.  I also make and freeze my own veggie burgers.  I make hoagies using marinated mushrooms in place of the steak, vegan chili, a fantastic chickpea salad, wonderful pizza loaded with veggies,homemade banana raisin granola for cereal and snacking, and so much more. I also developed a recipe for chocolate date balls that taste so much better than the lara bars.
      We were discussing the price of hamburger yesterday with family. I said it was about $6 for a 2.5 lb pack. Someone else quickly corrected me and said it was about $6 a lb now! I was in shock. I only quit buying it in January. It had gone up about double in just that 4 months.  We also discovered we Loovve Silk Brand chocolate cashew milk.  It is so thick and rich.
      These changes all began after watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix, Forks Over Knives, and  The China Study. Check them out for yourself. You will be amazed at the healing that is taking place, and what the FDA allows to be put in our foods, and the research that has been done but ignored.

Stop Lice in Their Tracks!

        I have five children that are now ages 25-35 yrs old. during their grade school years, they brought lice home from school ONE time. Once......the whole time these five went to school. Not too bad. I treated all of our heads once and the nasty little critters were not to be seen again.
        Fast forward and my 8 yr old grand daughter has been staying with us for a few months. For 3 months now we have been fighting lice. I get it cleaned up and a few days later they are back. I have read that lice today are more resistant to the traditional chemicals used to kill them.
       During this time I have treated everyone's heads (just to be safe, however we never found them on our heads) about every week to 10 days. I used the generic equivalent to NIX. It seemed to kill them, never found live until about 5 days later. I talked with the school principle who assure me they send kids home that are found with live lice. They also have a no nit policy. However, I know this wasnt true because my DGD was sent home with a note, that I didnt find until late that evening, saying she had lice...again.  They tried to tell me that I wasnt getting it cleared up, that she was getting it from the school repeatedly. I later proved this false too.
      When she kept getting the lice back I started some research and found that what I was using didnt sound like it was supposed to kill eggs too. Anyone who has treated lice know how time consuming it is to find and remove all the eggs (nits).  Sound the next few times I bought NIX brand. It stated it killed eggs and kept you from getting lice back for two weeks. well lo and behold, within 7 days I found live lice again. I have treated heads, washed bedding and stuffed toys, sprayed carpets , furniture, rugs, and mattresses. still we were finding them almost on a weekly basis.  Every night, my husband and I armed with reading glasses, and flashlights searching her head. we got to be "nit picking" professionals.
        Recently my son told me he had to do some research on it because one of their kids brought them home from the babysitter. He told me about Cetaphil, and recommended I read this site:
http://nuvoforheadlice.com/test/  

I read it had been tested at about 96% effective at killing lice. Nix and others are only about 72%. So with that point alone it got my attention. He bought a generic from Dollar General. My husband picked up the name brand. we were desperate and didnt want to take any chances.
Make sure you buy the cleanser and NOT the lotion.

We treated her head on Sunday night. It didnt say to leave on over night, but we did.  make sure you follow the directions on the above site to the letter. The only hastle from using this method was getting the hair dry with this in it. It took FOREVER.  I also read that coconut was a good repellant. I knew from personal trial with my animals that coconut oil  killed fleas on contact. I went shopping and bought coconut conditioner and a leave in product with coconut. The next morning we washed hair as usual. I checked thoroughly and found NO lice. Dead or Alive. Well school was canceled on Monday due to snow. I checked for lice again  that night.....still nothing. Tuesday, I checked her head again and still no lice. I sprayed the leave in stuff  in her hair, and sent her off  to school. She came home later that afternoon, and I immediately checked her head again.

                                               YEP, you guessed it.....LICE.....again. 

I only found one, but it was an ADULT. so she brought it home from school again. A missed egg would not have time to hatch and turn into an adult within 8 hours! Not enough time for cetaphil so I used NIX again, and removed the lice and checked for eggs again.

    So I hit the internet again for more research. I read loads of positive comments on Tea Tree Oil. Some were even research trials by organizations and doctors. Some are putting a small amount in the shampoo, some in the conditioner,some both and some also sing it diluted as a leave in product.

Now this stuff is fairly expensive initially, but you only use a small amount, so a little goes a long way. I believe mine was about $8 from Walmart. Since the leave in coconut product didnt prevent re-infestation anyway, I added about 1/2 tsp to my 8 oz bottle of leave in. Now let me warn you....if you have a cold or sinus congestion, this stuff will loosen it up real quick. It has a strong almost camphor like smell. I was a little afraid kids would smell my granddaughter coming before they seen her. Well...not really....I was desperate. But after I spritzed her hair thoroughly before school  and dried it, it wasnt really noticeable. It left almost a "fresh" scent.

Fast forward 2 weeks later.....No LICE!!!. We are finally bug free. after spending hundreds of dollars on insecticides....poisons.. I have been checking her hair daily. If your school has a lice problem, I highly recommend this method to kill and prevent lice. 

WARNING, I have read on several sites NOT to use Tea Tree Oil full strength. Always dilute. I had it on my hands with no irritation. Do some research on your own.

here was an impressive study done by the National Institute of  Health:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22847279

What Happened To My Sweet Little Kitty?

Last year my son rescued a sweet little kitty from some animal that was feeding on the litter a little at a time. The litter was where he worked. This little thing was so grateful he would love to climb on my shoulder and cuddle. he was so sweet. What happened to this gentle, loving kitty?

Remember this post: Porch Paint Job

And remember the culprit:

Yep! This is the same guy, only much bigger. Except now he is cocky, hyper, a terrorizer of the other animals, and sometimes a little psycho!

There is times he will run thru the house in hyper-mode like something out of the movie Matrix. Running full speed, sideways across the back of the couch, from one object to the next then out the doggy door. he has sat to the side of the doggy door out of site of the innocent family member coming thru the door. Then when they get thru , he pounces on them, rolling with them across the floor.I have made a mad dash to the bathroom (you antique women know how that it), sit down on the toilet in a hurried rush, to realize the seat is wet. Then when I get up I see muddy footprints on the seat and down inside. We now have to keep the seat down because he likes to play.

       For over 30 yrs we have kept cats. Since then, we no longer had a problem with mice in the house. UNTIL NOW! About a month ago, I was getting something out of a little cabinet. I kept smelling something.  So I pulled out the cabinet,and found a dead mouse to the right corner. Yea, I knew who did it. he probably brought it in to play, and hid it for later. So I swept him up in my dustpan, tossed it out, then mopped the floor. Then I noticed a piece of paper that had fell behind on the left corner. I picked it up, and there was another one under it. Except this one was so far gone, tufts of hair was around it, and coming  loose when I swept him up. I mopped again. 

        Now fast forward to yesterday afternoon, I am walking into the kitchen to start supper, and sitting in the middle of the floor is another small mouse. Now i hate mice and bugs, and if this critter had taken off running, I would have run screaming in the other direction. Probably looking for the nearest chair. But I grabbed a broom, and tried to hold him in place with the bristles. he was very slow moving, and seemed very weak. I guess another of Joey's playmates. He is hard on friends. Just as I had him trapped my husband came in and I quickly relinquished the handle. He held it, then I got the dust pan and he was able to scoop him in and throw him out. Then later that evening, another weak, and barely moving mouse was found in the bathroom floor. My son got him out.

                 What ever happened to cats keeping the mice OUT?!

                              Not bringing them in to play!

Somebody Ruined Our Paint Job

      My husband pressure washed out back porch to remove lose paint, and we added a fresh coat of paint. First we applied the white to railings and trim last night. Then this morning My husband rushed right in and did the Darker stain to the deck and steps. Everything looked so clean and fresh. He then placed the ladder in front of the steps to try and deter the cats and dogs.

                                                        Well the dogs got the hint.
 And cats do, as cats please. I don't think they cared one way or the other. Actually I should say "cat" singular. Because the fella was caught in the act. My husband said yesterday, no one would bother it except our black male. He figured he would end up rolling in it, just to prove he could. Well, close.
He left his little gray paw marks all down the upper railing:

  Then over the next railing:

Then down the hand rail:

Then down the landscaping timbers framing the walk

But dont feel too bad for the poor kitty, he did finally get his feet cleaned off:

 His finished his little trail of destruction down the landscaping timbers then if you look closely you can see where he left the last of it in the grass.
                                    Now it's time for a nap. Funny, he don't look too guilty.

Money Saver Tip for Plug-In Air Fresheners

      Anyone that knows me, know that I hate disposable items. I try to avoid them as much as possible. It seems like such a waste to pay good money for something then throw it away. Just like the popular disposable mop covers.  Thats why I created my own covers for dusting or wet mopping HERE. This morning, I got tired of looking at my empty airwick plug in stuck in my bathroom outlet. Its been there for awhile. I just couldnt bring myself to buy another bottle. They dont seem to last very long. So I decided to look at the bottle and see if I could get the top off. Mine is the motion activated one. I took a butter knife and was able to easily slip the cap right off.

Now I had to figure out what to fill it with. I already had fabuloso a cheap cleaner with a great fresh smell. I hate that its not antibacterial, but I usually just add it to my mop water that has bleach.

I love how the room smells after mopping with it. I had plenty of this, so I simply poured it straight into the bottle. Recapped it, and plugged it in. A couple of hours later, I checked on things and loved the fresh smell in my bathroom. Best of all, it couldnt have cost more than a penny to fill, when the entire jug cost less than $3.

UPDATE: As of January 2015, we have begun our journey to more healthy living. Eating plant pased, eliminating plastics and aluminum and non-stick cookware. I now use cloth napkins in place of paper, and rags in place of paper towels. We also use natural homemade cleaning products. So due to this I have also stopped using these air fresheners. However, a good option would be to use natural essential oils.

I Love My Homemade Country Style Bathroom Vanity!

     A few years ago, before i joined blogging  land, we renovated our main bathroom. We still need to replace the old tub and toilet, but all good things in time.
     We have a ranch style home. Built entirely by our own hands. except for when hubby needed a little more muscle than I have lol. It is 3740 sq feet.  As time goes by and kids move out, we have been updating a few rooms at a time. The most recent was our bedroom. I will make another post of it, however I did show off our new walk-in closet HERE.
     Anyway, quite a few years ago when we custom ordered handmade oak cabinets for our kitchen from a local craftsman, we also ordered a few for our bathroom. I wanted something that looked like an old fashioned hutch. So we ordered regular bottom cabinets to work with our existing laundry shoot and single sink placement. Then for the uppers, we ordered 2 narrow upper cabinets to flank the vanity mirror. We then went to Lowes and purchased an inexpensive beveled wall mirror. Centered it on the wall between the wall cabinets, then took pine boards and framed the mirror. My husband did cut a ledge out of the back edge of the boards that went against the mirror so we didnt have as much thickness showing in the front. Just  lap joined the corners, nothing fancy. Screwed into the wall, and screws were recessed so he could add wood buttons to cover them.

This is a view of the upper right corner of the mirror. You can see one of the wood buttons here. Also across the whole top to join the wall cabinets, he had the craftsman, cut a wide board as a topper to enclose the whole thing making it look like one unit. 

The woodworker also cut out a decorative front board to join the wall cabinets from oak. When it was all put together my husband also gave it its crowning glory by adding decorative molding along the whole top of the unit. I forgot to mention the counter top had the backspalsh cut out from behine the wall cabinets so everything would fit nice and flush up agains the wall.

We also bought under mount cabinet lighting for ambiance and when one needs a little more light. I just noticed in trying to get the picture to be right sides up ( blogger seems to want to turn my pics sometimes when posting), I ended up with a mirror image,lol. the only things left for this bathroom is a new tile floor and fixtures.

Kids are Gone, and Mom's Taking Over

         For many years I have made due with a tiny closet of a sewing room. its about 6'x10'. I am a very disorganized person even on a good day. I am into a lot of different craft forms as well. so I have supplies from craft projects, sewing, knitting, paper crafts, and embroidery. and admittedly, I hate to throw anything away. I had a very frugal upbringing, and tend to think " I might need that someday". No matter how small or cheap the item. I am trying to get away from a lot of that thinking. tackling a room every now and then throwing things away. Now its time for the sewing room. Now i have room to put things.
        I am a grandma of 4, and 4 of my 5 children have now moved out on their own. So my once 6 bedroom home has some empty, or almost empty rooms. If the kids ever get the rest of their stuff,lol. I am wondering if they are leaving stuff just to "mark" their territory. Just in case they want to come back,lol. I have 4 bedrooms upstairs. One has been made into a home office of sorts. another project room in the waiting. There is also the master bedroom, which is now a completed project, and 2 other bedrooms. One I am leaving as a guest room ( if I can manage to get the rest of my daughter's things out), the other still has a few of another daughter's things,plus a full size bed. I would like to take that bed out, but for now I will probably leave it, and just make it up like a daybed for now, and make this 12x14 foot room into my sewing room extension. My sewing "closet" has my mounted tables below the window and along one wall. This is where i set my sewing and embroidery machines. But I want to put up a large work table in the bedroom, and bookshelves for my fabrics. Stay tuned for pictures and organization ideas for this major work in progress.

Update On The Closet

       Well it took a little longer than we anticipated, but its finally done. All except installing one more closet rod. One of these days we will also make some drawers to install between some of the shelves. For now i am just glad to finally put our things away.

This is how it looked after installing trim work to cover rough edges of plywood and floor molding. Still needs painted yet.

The hanging section on the right with the rod lying down, is where we still need tp install the second lower rod.

This shows the right wall, and the double closet bar here.

Here is a close-up of the crown molding along the ceiling. This really dresses it up.

Everything is painted (still waiting on the last rod below these clothes). This shows things in progess of being put back in the closet. I reealllyyy need that other rod,lol

New Walk-In Closet on The Way

        We have been in the middle of remodeling our bedroom for sometime. When you own a home, there is always something that needs fixed, or updated. Life always seems to get in the way and put a halt to things sometimes though. Several yrs ago we did the master bathroom, and about 2 months ago, we finally got around to the bedroom. admittedly the bedroom was a pretty big project. We used to have a little bump out with windows in it. We took the whole end wall out of the house on our bedroom, and rebuilt it. He made it straight across. He hung new wood siding, new gutter and installed new windows in our room as well. We also used to have a small room just off our bedroom with a large spa in it. This room was about 11x11. We dont have city water, and hauling water in to re-fill it regularly was getting to be a pain in the butt. So we pulled  out the spa and gave it to my son. We then raised the floor in it even with the bedroom. It was 2 steps down as it was on a tiled cement floor. The windows were removed and walls re-done and painted the same dusty, gray-green as the bedroom. The hardwood floors are on order and should be here by Tuesday. So for the last couple of days we have been building the cabinetry for the walk-in closet. Yes, even today......my 29th...mmmm  well 52 nd birthday.
     We had planned on just hanging the  store bought shelving units found in Lowes and Home Depot, until I seen the site below. As soon as we seen their closet, we knew we were going to do our best to make it ours.
Check this out! You have got to watch her cute video. She did a wonderful job, and on her closet too. Anyway, her closet was our inspiration.
In this photo we are starting to build our cabinets:

A few more done. Man does it take time to cut all these boards, figure up sizes, measure and remeasure.On the left wall we will leave open as the doorway comes thru here. There will be cabinetry on the other three walls.These pics are taken from the closet doorway looking in from the bedroom.

I know, it sure dont look like much.....yet.

And here we are still on the painting part of the project. I painted the back edges of the shelves before we pushed them up against the wall, so I wouldnt have to tape the walls off. The lady in the above link added backs to her cabinets, but we kinda wanted to see the green walls with the white cabinets. I thought that might be a nice contrast. I figured the sheet rock walls could always be painted white later if we wanted to, and you would never know the difference. 

Now all the cabinets are installed and painted their first coat. You need to paint one coat , let dry, then sand, and paint the final coat. The first coat of paint will raise the grain making the wood feel real rough. There is a load of difference when you do this light sanding. We also used some wood putty to fill in any knots that show on the rougher side of the plywood. It is 3/4 inch thick, and has one nice side, and one almost as nice side. We also took white caulking and filled in the where the edges of the shelves met the sides, so no cracks show. We wanted a nice smooth finish. Tomorrow we plan on getting all the trim installed except the floor molding.   We have to wait till the wood floor is down, before we can put it in. But trim on all the shelves and sides, and crown molding along the ceiling will happen tomorrow. When you used plywood, the edges always have to be covered with something. They arent pretty,lol. Then I will show off some more pics. Be prepared to be amazed!

Homeward Bound!

      Here I am sitting at the playground at Lakewood campground while my 3 grand-daughters play. We are rolling out in the morning. The fifth wheel camper is pretty much picked up from our 10 days of destruction and about ready to go. My bushel of sweet, juicy peaches are in their little baskets waiting to be canned on my return. minus a few we have been enjoying. We are leaving for home early in the morning. The weather has been beautiful, although a little windy today, making the waves a little too strong to enjoy, but to be honest, I am ready to go home and see how my little garden is faring while we have been away.

Relaxing at the Beach

    Our electric finally came back on July 9, and I spent the 10 cleaning house and washing clothes up for our trip. On July 11th we pulled out with the fifth wheel heading for Myrtle Beach, SC. Picking up the 3 grand daughters on the way. No parents, just us and the girls. We were married 34 yrs on July 1st, so all our kids are grown. Now we can spoil the grand kids,lol. We are going to be here for 10 days. hopefully we can keep these girls pacing our activities,lol.

The 3 girls and grandpa.

Feeding the local goats.

Bicycle ride along the beach front with grandpa leading the pack, and grandma watching the rear.

The swan checking out the goats, and trying to get in on the bread toss,lol.
We also went to Ripley's Aquarium. The highlights were seeing the huge sharks swimming over head, and posing with the mermaids.

Hallelujah!! We Have Power!

     Hallelujah........... Hallelujah...............Hallelujah........! 
Oh , sorry about that. My excitement got away with me. We have been without electric and running water in an all electric home for almost 10 days. In 90 to 100 degree weather. We finally got our power back on this evening. Now comes the clean up. Shoot! Now I'm not so excited.

Where's Rosie when you really need her?

Update On The Storm Damage

       Well, we have been a full 6 nights without electric or running water. We hear it should be back on by Saturday. I sure hope so. The days have been horribly hot, and its even worse at night trying to sleep. Thank goodness for the insurance to cover food losses,etc. Luckily we didnt have much physical damage. We have gone without electric before in winter,  but never for more than a day or two. This has gotten me to thinking even more on alternate forms of power, such as solar. We have plenty of sun, lol.