Author Archives: catwmn

Make Your Own Home Cleaners!

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I cannot begin to explain how excited I am about this. I am not sure why it took me so long to figure out how much money I could save by doing this but It’s a TON for our family.  Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to spend money, but really only on COOL stuff , like electronics, food and outings for the family. NOT on cleaning products.

Let’s say for instance you use Tide to wash your clothes. We do two loads a day here so with our family of five we do about 60 loads a month give or take. If you count linens, rugs and such you can go ahead and say we use a 100 load bottle a month. That bottle costs 20.00 at LEAST. Now let’s add the fabric softener at a cost of about another 20.00 a month for the BIG bottle of Downy. That’s 40.00 right there just on Laundry! So, then let’s talk about shower cleaners, windex, counter top sprays, floor cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, dish soap, dishwasher pods, and jet dry. See how it adds up? I bet we were spending over 100.00 a month JUST on cleaning products. Cleaning products with chemicals in them that are not only harmful to the environment, but harmful to my pets and children too! To say nothing of what standing in a shower with a bottle of Kaboom can do to me for an entire weekend. I got sick after EVERY TIME I cleaned my shower. Not anymore.

I’m going to share with you some recipes I have found on the internet for making your own cleaning products that work AS GOOD if not BETTER than their chemical laden, toxic counterparts from the grocery store. And they cost a FRACTION of the cost to make yourself, are better for YOU, and your family, and the environment. It’s seriously a win-win situation.

First up, is the Shower Cleaner. Soap scum is my arch nemesis. We live in the country and have well water. I also have shower doors. I used to tell people that I would toss those things out the back door if I could because no matter what kind of thing I sprayed on them I could NEVER get them clean the way I wanted to. Well, I’ve discovered a two ingredient cleaner that works like a charm! And it doesn’t harm your lungs to breathe it at all!

Homemade Shower Cleaner:

1 32 ounce spray bottle

2 cups BLUE Dawn dishwashing detergent

2 cups white vinegar

Heat the white vinegar in the microwave until it’s fairly warm, mix it in the bottle with the vinegar. Shake well. Spray the entire inside of your shower or tub with it until it is well coated. Walk away for several hours or overnight and do something else. The longer you leave it on the better it works. Because my shower was so bad with soap scum by the time I got around to trying this I did wind up spraying it down again a few hours before I came back to scrub. Wet down the inside of the shower a bit and scrub away! This took EVERYTHING off of the walls of my shower, soap scum, hard water deposits, ALL OF IT. Side note: YES it does smell very strongly of vinegar. The next time I make it I am going to add some either lemon essential oils or some other scent I like to try to cut the vinegar smell a bit.  Also, I’ve read many places that ONLY the BLUE DAWN will work with this recipe. The Blue Dawn is magic so let’s just not question that. :-)

Anti Bacterial Counter Top Spray:

With three kids, and all of the critters we have I use anti bacterial kitchen counter spray several times a day.Not only is this stuff expensive but the chemicals in it that make it anti bacterial are quite toxic to humans and pets. I made up a bottle of it yesterday for very little money and it is all natural and smells very clean to boot!

1 cup of vinegar

1 cup of water

5 T Castille Soap( I used Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint because we already had it laying around)

15-20 drops of Tea Tree Oil

Mix all of the ingredients in the bottle and shake well. It smells VERY clean and the tea tree oil is a natural anti-bacterial so it kills all of the germs!

Laundry Soap:

This one was the big one that got me started with all of this. It really couldn’t be easier to make and it works GREAT on your clothes.

This recipe will make a double batch. With a family of 5 I wanted a big batch you can cut it in half and make less.

2 bars of Fels Naptha or Ivory Soap

4 cups of 2o Mule Team Borax

4 cups Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

There are two ways to do the soap. You can either grate the soap on a fine cheese grater OR you can chop it into small pieces and put it into a powerful blender with about a  half a cup of the washing soda and blend it until it is tiny tiny pieces. (DO NOT leave out the washing soda from the blender, it is what keeps the tiny soap particles from sticking together.) After you have the soap either blended or grated mix in the other dry ingredients and store in an air tight container. 2 Tablespoons washes a large load. I bought a coffee scoop to measure this amount.  This soap works in ALL types of washers and dissolves beautifully.

All of my ingredients.

Grated Soap

Finished Product.

Fabric Softener:

Vinegar is an amazing natural fabric softener. Also, it helps brighten your clothes AND it removes ALL of the soap residue. This recipe is fun to make and works great!

6 cups vinegar

1 cup of water

1 cup baking soda

Get out a LARGE pot. I’m not kidding here, I almost had a vinegar and baking soda volcano all over my kitchen. Use a wooden spoon. Put the 6 cups of vinegar and 1 cup of water in the pot. SLOWLY add in the baking soda a small amount at a time and stir. Put this into an empty jug and shake before adding to the wash each time. My washer has an automatic fabric softener dispenser. I just put this in there instead of downy. NO, it doesn’t smell like fluffy clouds or bears but my laundry actually has NO smell at all now. (Until I get my Scentsy washer whiffs and dryer discs.)

Glass and Surface Cleaner:

1 cup vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 cup rubbing alcohol

2 Tablespoons Blue Dawn

Mix in a spray bottle and clean away! The alcohol makes it evaporate quickly and keeps streaks from happening. I swear it works BETTER than Windex. Add a few drops of lemon essential oil to cut the vinegar smell if you want.

Scrubbing Powder:

I use this on my stainless steel cookware, the inside of my sinks, tubs, you name it. It works GREAT and will not damage any of your surfaces. I put it inside of an empty parmesan cheese container.  1 Cup Baking Soda, 3 tablespoons Borax. Mix well. Sprinkle on surfaces and scrub away, then rinse.  I even used it on my ceramic cook top last night and it really did VERY well.

Floor Cleaner:

I mixed this in a spray bottle because I use a reusable swiffer type mop on my floors. I simply spray this on the floor and then mop.

2 cups vinegar

1 cup alcohol

10 drops tea tree oil

1 cup water

Mix in a spray bottle and mop away.  I am not sure if this is safe for wood floors, I only have vinyl and it works great on that. The alcohol helps it evaporate quickly and I’m SURE it also kills germs.

Liquid Dishwasher Detergent:

2 cups vegetable-based castile soap (such as Vermont Soap Organics or Dr. Bronner’s)

½ cup water

½ cup Vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

3 drops essential oil of your choice(Tea Tree oil is naturally antiseptic so it’s a natural choice.)

Pour ingredients into a recycled plastic bottle with a squirt-top and shake until thoroughly incorporated. Before using, shake liquid well and measure out 2 tablespoons per load.
Also, instead of using Jet Dry in your dishwasher, go ahead and fill the rinse chamber with straight vinegar. It will help with hard water spots and leave your dishes shiny!

Toilet Cleaner:

1/2 cup Borax

Put it in the bowl and swish around with the brush and leave it for awhile, even overnight. Brush again, swish and flush.

Use a pumice stick to get rings out.

So, there you have it! An arsenal of cleaning supplies that won’t break the bank or harm you, your kids, or your pets.  Now, Go forth and clean!! :-)

Spring Break! Finally!

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It is officially Spring Break! I couldn’t be happier with the time off from the harried mornings of getting the twins up and off to school. Oh how I long for the days when we won’t have to do that anymore.

Lots of goings on the past few weeks since I posted. We now have Chickens to add to our menagerie of animals. A week or so ago a friend of Bart’s called him on a Saturday morning to tell him that he had come to work in his strip center at Eye Masters and there was a chicken running loose in front of his store. Bart and I had been discussing raising chickens for eggs for some time so I sent him to go and get her.

This is Bart with Lips the chicken the morning he caught her.

He brought her home to me and we spent that weekend building a coop for her to live in. There was much confusion for a couple of days over whether she was a chicken or a rooster but that was all solved on the second morning when we awoke to find her with an egg.

Here is her first egg. Obviously not a rooster. LOL

Here are some photos of our new coop! It was all built from old wood we had laying around and all we had to buy was the hardware cloth. YAY for recycling!

Here is Aaron with Bart working on the framing for the coop.

Austin is installing hinges on the nesting boxes where we will collect the eggs.

Austin and our dog Layla taking a break in the Clover.

Painting the coop with a wagner power painter that was not cooperating too well.

Painting the coop!

Finished coop with a cool metal rooster on the door and hardware cloth installed. CUTE!

Finished coop with a metal rooster on the door and hardware cloth installed. SO CUTE!

Bart pretending to be a chicken. LOL

Once we finished the coop we got it moved to it’s spot in the yard and installed a 5 foot tall metal fence all the way around the area so that they could have a place outside to run.

Finished coop with fence.

Unfortunately, Lips is an escape artist and WILL NOT stay inside of the fence. I have NO idea how she is getting out. We clipped her wings so she should not be able to fly at all but apparently she can jump pretty high or something because she is getting over that fence somehow.

Thankfully, the three other little girls are staying in nice and safe.

My four girls. Lips, is a Black Tailed Buff Japanese Bantam and the three little black chickens are Cochin Bantams.

I’ve decided to name the Cochin Bantam with no tail feathers Rumpy. I think it fits her well. LOL. She is very cute but always seems to be trying to hold her wings over her butt. ;-)

Here is Austin with Rumpy on his shoulder. She likes it up there for a little while.

I am really surprised at how much Austin has really taken to the chickens.  I can hardly keep him out of the coop. This will come in handy when it comes time to clean it I hope. :-)

Here's a photo of me holding Lips on the second day she was here with us.

Yesterday was Buckwheat’s second birthday. Buckwheat is our 2 year old Palomino Colt. He is SO gorgeous. I made him a special horse cake for his birthday and we had some family over for the day. The horses absolutely LOVED the cake and we even let them come up into the front yard to have some of the grass up here.

Horsey Cake. Shredded Carrots, Raisins, Apple Sauce, Cinnamon, Chopped Apples, Molasses and a can of rolled oats. Also known as horse crack. There was not a single bit of it left.

My sister with Duben(On the right) and Buckwheat the birthday boy.(On the left)

Our donkey Eddie checking out the cars.

All in all we had a GREAT weekend besides me being partially sickly with some sort of allergy/sinus crud. I hope it passes soon though because I want to get outside and work on my garden this week!

Also, this week I am making up household cleaners from scratch! I tried an amazing shower cleaner this weekend and was totally blown away by how awesome it was.  1 cup of distilled white vinegar and 1 cup of blue dawn. Heat the vinegar in the microwave until hot, mix in the dawn in a spray bottle, shake to blend, spray in shower. Let it sit for a couple of hours or over night if you want. It takes off EVERYTHING from the shower doors.

Last week I made homemade laundry soap and this week I am making homemade fabric softener, homemade kitchen counter spray(Antibacterial), homemade glass cleaner, homemade upholstery cleaner and homemade general purpose cleaning spray. This stuff is SO EASY to make and dirt cheap to make it yourself. I could see it saving us a TON of money over time PLUS being better for the environment. Not to mention better for US since they are chemical free.  I’ll come back and let you know how it all goes and post my recipes after I am done.

I hope everyone has a great spring break! I know we are going to try to!

A LOT Has Happened In 8 Months!!

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Yes, it’s been about 8 months since I blogged. Here it is a whole new year and I haven’t even logged in to WordPress until today.

So, what’s been going on at The Clickarosa? Well, a lot.

We got a horse in October of last year. It’s a long story as to how it happened but suffice it to say my colt Buckwheat is one of the greatest things to EVER happen to me outside of getting married and having my kids. I refer to him as the “gateway horse” because he led to us getting a Donkey, and ANOTHER Horse. LOL  They are a wonderful little herd together and bring me daily joy and entertainment.

I’m still in braces and awaiting future jaw surgery but it seems to be on hold at the moment. Originally we had planned on only doing lower jaw advancement with genioplasty but after my last orthodontist appointment we discovered that my upper jaw will need to be widened as well so that means double jaw surgery which I was not financially prepared for. Being as how we are doing this all out of pocket it will require a LOT longer to save for double jaw surgery since it requires a hospital stay for at least two days and such. It has been a real test of my patience to say the least. LOL.

In January we removed our oldest son from Public School and I am now homeschooling him. I couldn’t be happier with how it is going. He has gone from being a D student to  all A’s and B’s. We are pretty relaxed about it and we get the work done on our own schedule.  I have plans to pull the twins at the end of this school year and do the same with them next year.  With all of the horrible things in the news about guns in schools, bullying, drugs in schools, and other threats to them and their well being it just seems like the best option for them.

Austin has had a really rough go for the past several years in public school and the last straw came in December when they wanted to send him to alternative school for the 4th time in as many years. Let me be clear here in saying that Austin is NOT a BAD kid. He has some issues with authority, and he is a talker and a class clown. The past three times we have allowed him to be sent to alternative school it has done nothing good for him except expose him to kids who had much worse problems than he already had. I just couldn’t allow it to go on any longer so I pulled him out.  I was really surprised at how easy of a decision it was for me to make and how easy it has been for us to find our groove in the homeschooling world. I also can’t believe the change in attitude I’ve seen in him since bringing him home for school.  He is calmer, happier and all around just BETTER.

I’m still plugging away on my weight loss and getting in shape goals, I haven’t made as much progress as I would have liked to by now but I have a feeling that will change soon. Now that life is calmer without as much as school dramas everything else seems to be falling into place. I’m finding my bliss. :-)

So, that’s my short update for now, I’ll post more soon along with some pics of the horses and donkey. :-)

A Year Has Gone By And Here I Am..

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On July 7th I made ONE YEAR in braces. A lot has changed in this past year, but not nearly as much as I wanted to.

Here I am, still the same weight, still the same size.

When I decided to have this Jaw Surgery and got my braces on I had all of these big plans to lose all of this weight before my surgery and get healthy. I have started and stopped and started and stopped so many times since then it’s not even funny.

Yesterday I was changing out of my swim suit from going swimming and caught a glance of my naked body in the mirror bent in a peculiar way and gasped. I mean, I am not fooling myself into thinking I looked GREAT or anything but I didn’t think I looked THAT bad.  I had this HUGE spare tire in my mid-section.  I know where it came from too.

This summer has been the summer of liquor and margaritas for me. Or beer. And chips, and salsa, and guacamole. And cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. All of these things go along so well with laying in the sun. I have made a dip with bulk breakfast sausage and cream cheese and Rotel more times than I like to admit and literally stood in front of the pan shoveling it into my mouth.  Internally I was fooling myself that I wasn’t really eating THAT much of it..when in fact I had probably MUCH more than one serving of it.

On top of that, ever since the kids got out of school I have spent the majority of my time on my butt in front of my laptop.  Eating, Drinking and sitting on ones ass is never a good thing for ones midsection.

It seems that I am my own worst enemy when it comes to diet and exercise programs.

4 summers ago I completed a Body For Life Challenge. I lost 36 pounds in 12 weeks and went from a size 18 to a size 7. (7 might not sound that small to you but I’m tall and I have big bones. I looked AWESOME in a size 7)  I never felt or looked better in my whole life since I had kids. Then, after the 12 weeks were over I just sort of fizzled out. 12 weeks straight of living on Oatmeal, chicken breast and broccoli and protein shakes had done me in. I wanted FOOD. I wanted Pizza, burgers, beer, liquor, you name it. It didn’t take long (about a year) and I was right back where I started.  Then I tried to do the challenge again and fizzled out by week 4. I couldn’t LIVE on that kind of food. It was boring and left me highly uninspired.

I haven’t really stuck to much since then and it really shows.

I’m almost 36 now and I am so scared that I am going to turn 40 and be FAT. I know there are worse things really, but I DO NOT want to be 40 and fat. And I know that if I want to get this weight off I have to do it NOW because the older I get the harder it’s going to be.

I can’t for the life of me figure out what keeps holding me back.

It’s certainly not the planning part of it. I am the queen of planning.

I know how to set goals.

I know how to start something.

I have never figured out how to finish. I think it comes from being a perfectionist.

I’m such an all or nothing girl. One tiny road block and I consider it total failure and give up.

I know I’m not the only one that is that way.

My other issue is that I tend to start something totally gung ho, over do it, injure myself and then have to stop because of that.

Either that, or I try to change too many things at once. Or make the program too restrictive where there is no flexibility with it and then I feel like a total failure if I can’t follow it.

It’s something I am really going to work on over the next few months.

I sat down this past weekend and wrote out a 90 day plan that mixes what I loved about Body For Life’s weight lifting regimen, with an eating plan I can follow for the long haul (Yes, it includes pizza, occasional cookies, and beer once a week), and cardio that I actually enjoy. I set a starting goal to follow it for just one week. Then to look back at what I enjoyed and what worked and continue with that and drop what I hated.

Today was my first day back on the weights. I forgot how hard it was when you were starting out. Hell, it’s been 3 hours since my workout and my arms still aren’t working right yet. I have that jello shaky arm sensation. And I LOVE it. I think that’s one of the reasons Body For Life worked so well for me when I did it. It wasn’t a video I had to keep up with.(And then feel like a total failure if you couldn’t move as fast or get in as many reps as the guy on the tape.) I got to go at my own pace. I got to lift whatever weight I felt comfortable with.  And because I’m not trying to listen to a trainer on a DVD I can listen to myself. Pay attention to my body, and how it feels.

So, for accountability’s sake here’s my plan for this week:

Daily Supplements:

Shakeology twice a day. (Monday- Saturday and then once on Sunday)

Intramax Liquid vitamin and mineral supplement once a day

Natural Calm Calcium Magnesium at night before bed to help with muscle cramping.

Food Plan:

Track all food on My Fitness Pal. (Every morsel)

Try to eat 1200-1400 calories a day

Stay away from processed junk Monday- Saturday.

Eat a lot more fruits and veggies.

Get some protein with every meal.

DRINK MY WATER! (This is one of the biggies for me. I am terrible about drinking water.)

Sundays are my one big cheat meal days. I have to eat a healthy breakfast and I can choose either lunch or dinner to have my cheat meal.  I still have to log the calories for this meal. I am not allowed to feel guilty for eating it. Especially if I have followed the plan for the whole week previous to it.

Saturday nights I am allowed to have TWO alcoholic beverages of my choice. I still have to track the calories for this and I am not allowed to feel guilty for drinking it.

Exercise:

Monday: Upper body weights/ Dance Cardio Express Workout

Tuesday: Dance Cardio Workout

Wednesday: Lower body weights/Abs/ Dance Cardio Express Workout

Thursday: Dance Cardio workout

Friday: Upper body weights/ Dance Cardio Express Workout

Saturday: P90X Plyometrics. My favorite workout from the whole series. It’s a MOTHER but it goes by quick and it will put the hurt on you.

Sunday: Rest day. YAY!

I may drop one other dance workout on the second week and do an extra day of Plyometrics. On plyometrics days I will also drink the P90X results and recovery formula because my legs will NEED it.

Mondays are weight in and measurements days. I will take progress photos every 4 weeks. (No, you cannot see them.) (Ok, maybe after I finish and I’m all buff you can see them.)

I’m going to make it a point to keep a journal and keep tabs on my feelings through this process. I will not beat myself up for falling off and eating a cookie. I will track said cookie, and I will get right back on the wagon with the very next meal.  This has been one of my biggest problems with most diets. If I eat a cookie my brain goes..”Screw it, you ruined the day, why not eat the whole bag?” Ugh.

No more.

Another thing to note. I have not set a “goal” weight for myself.  The reason for that is I am going to keep going until I reach my “happy” weight.  I have two crates of clothes in my closet that are a size 7/8. I have refused all of these years to get rid of them because there are so many happy memories attached to a lot of those outfits.  Outfits worn when I as a person was much happier.(And much cuter.) I am going to keep at this until all of those clothes fit again.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not miserable right now. I just know I don’t look and feel my best.  Also, when I am in this shape I do not have the best self esteem. I know I’m an awesome person and because of my body image issues I just can’t put myself out there like I would if I were more fit and healthy.  A lot of people are losing out on that, including me. (Yes, I know that sounds conceited but it’s honestly the way I feel.) I have always told everyone I know that as soon as this whole jaw surgery saga is behind me I am going to be utterly unstoppable as a human being and a woman. There will be nothing left standing between me and the rest of the world and all of the people I will be able to interact with. I can’t wait!

The key for me is staying consistent with it. It’s only an HOUR a day I have to devote to exercise . It will NOT kill me. The eating part will be easy. The Exercise part is not. I have to make sure that I do this for myself. I know that I am only truly happy when I look my best. I do NOT look my best in the body I am in right now. I do not FEEL my best in the body I am in right now.

So, here we go. I’ll be keeping everyone abreast of the situation as it plays out.  Wish me luck!

Time for that Cardio! :-)

 

11 Months..

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Yesterday marked 11 months since I got my lower braces on.

Oh how much has changed in that time. I’m completely finished with moving my lower teeth and now we are in the heavy wires on the top arch to try to widen it out some and I’m in rubber bands on my molars to try to lengthen them because my bite is open in the back.( I got my top braces on about 3 months ago.)

Rubber Bands are the bane of my existence. I am in the super heavy bands. (Galapagos Tortoise Bands) so they are really tight and can seriously cause some sore muscles in my jaws. Every once in awhile one will snap and shoot into my cheek which doesn’t feel too hot either.

I’m still bummed that I’m looking at possibly another 6 months before surgery. I had so hoped to get it done sooner but I guess the best things come to those who wait. God knows I don’t want to rush it and have a less than stellar outcome.  My orthodontist said she would rather have my teeth in perfect position PRIOR to surgery than do a lot of moving around afterward.  This means of course I will have less time in braces AFTER surgery than most people.  I’m probably still at least a year from getting all of this metal out of my mouth though. GRR.

I’ve noticed that I’ve been really grinding my teeth a lot more at night than I usually do and I’ve been doing a lot of clenching during the day.  Bart also said I have been snoring a bit more than normal at night. I don’t know if this has something to do with the rubber bands and all of the pressure they are putting on my jaws but I intend to ask at my next appointment in a few weeks. It seems counter productive to wear these rubber bands to pull my molars out longer and then grind on them and push them back in. :-/

I’ve been reading a lot of other surgery blogs lately. I’m still waiting to find out from my surgeon whether I will be doing upper and lower surgery or just lower with Genioplasty. If it’s just lower with the Genioplasty I can do it outpatient and be home the same day. With both  upper and lower there will be at least a two day hospital stay. It seems that the recovery is much easier with just the lower jaw surgery but the results aesthetically are more dramatic with double jaw.  Lord knows if I am putting myself through all of this hell I want the most bang for my buck. So if he says double jaw I’ll do it. I won’t be seeing my surgeon until the orthodontist thinks I am almost ready for surgery so I won’t know until then.

All in all, life is really good and relaxed right now. The kids are all out of school for the summer until August 22nd. We are now starting to get into a daily routine that works for us and my days are just very mellow. This is really good. I remember summers past seemed like a war-zone for me and I used to fall into a deep depression during the summer. Mostly due to the fact that the kids were so much younger and more difficult to deal with 24/7. Now that they are older we have a lot more fun together.  We’ve got the pool which we spend time in every day, plus we watch lots of movies.

Bart and I recently celebrated our 14th Wedding Anniversary! Can you believe it! Sometimes it seems like just yesterday when we were so young and crazy. Now look at us. 3 great kids, and just as crazy about each other as the day we met.  I am realizing now just how rare that connection is..and I am SOOO Thankful for it..  I know people who are married who can barely stand the sight of each other. I feel extremely lucky to have Bart and I know he feels exactly the same way about me. That is why we will be together FOREVER. <3

Anyway, that’s pretty much all I have to say for now. Just wanted to post a quick update… Hope everyone is staying cool out there. I saw our thermometer in the truck yesterday reach 107 while we were out running errands. The heat has been INSANE and we have had little or no rain in MONTHS. The weather is crazy I tell ya, I am not looking forward to what mother nature has in store for us for Hurricane Season.

I’ll write more again soon! Until then…