Quiet Life Homestead

Georgeously Green: Beauty

I mentioned yesterday that I am reading Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano.  I am half-way through this book and find it so fascinating.  Most people believe that to go "green" you have to wear birkenstocks, grow your underarm hair, and eat twigs.  Mrs. Uliano proves this theory wrong.  She has 8 steps to living an Earth-Friendly (hate that word) life.  I'm going to go through a few steps.  The first is just becoming aware that everything you do impacts our environment in some way.  Boring.  The 2nd step is to use healthy, environmental/organic beauty products. Fun.

First of all, pull out your make-up, shampoos, conditioners, body lotion, baby supplies, anything that you smooth on your body.  Look on the packages for these ingredients that The Environmental Working Group says is dangerous:

1. Coal tar: Used in dandruff shampoos and anti-itch creams, coal tar is a known carcinogen.  Coal tar-based dyes such as FD&C Blue 1, which are used in toothpastes, and FD&C Green3, which is used in mouthwash, should be avoided.

2.  Fragrance:  This ubiquitous term is used to mask hundreds of ingredients, including phthalates, which disrupt the endocrine system and could cause reporductive and developmental harm.

3. Hydroquinone:  Commonly found in skin lighteners and facial moisturizers, it is a neurotoxin and is allergenic.

4.  Aluminum:  Often used in eye shadow as a color additive and also used in deodorants, it is listed as a carcinognic, toxic, and mutagenic.

5.  Triclosan:  This chimical is used in almost all antibacterial products, including soap, toothpaste, and cosmetics.  Triclosan is often contaminated with dioxins, which are highly carcinogenic and can also weaken your immune system, decrease fertility, and cause birth defects.

6.  P-Phenylenediamine:  This is the chemical that has given a bad name to regular hair dye.  It can damage your nervous system, cause lung irritation, and cause severe allergic reactions.  It's also listed as ,4-Benzenediamine; p-Phenyldiamine and 4-Phenylenediamine.

7.  Lead and Mercury:  Lead could appear in toothpaste as a naturally occurring contaminant of hydrated silica.  It is a neurotoxin that also appears as lead acetate in men's hair dye.  Mercury is found in a cosmetic (and vaccine) called thimerosol.

Some other chemicals that are bad, but not extremely dangerous are:

Parabens, Phthalates, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Polyethylene Glycol, Formaldehyde Producing Preservatives, Talc, Acrylates and Methacrylates, Alcohol, Isopropyl, Tocopherol Acetate, Phenonip, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds, Cationic Surfectants, Benzyl Alcohol, Silicone Derived Emollients, Carbomber 934, 940, 941, 960, 961C

To find out if a certain cosmetic is safe go onto www.safecosmetics.org.  For a list of Gorgeously Green approved products go onto www.gorgeouslygreen.com/cheatsheet.  I will have more information in the days to come on living a gorgeous lifestyle "green".

Blessings,

~Farrah

Daily Devotion 204

July 22

Faint, Yet Pursuing

And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, . . .faint, yet pursuing them.

Judges 8:4

You caught a glimpse of God’s plan. You said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow wherever You lead. Give me grace to follow.” Remember how excited you were when you caught that flash of destiny? A straight shot, and you expected to arrive at your grand destination.

But something has happened. God led you away from that mountain into a series of valleys. At first the way was still clear. Confidently you walked along.

Suddenly you came to a fork in the road. Two paths were well trodden and appealing. You had to strain to see the third path. Theovergrowth fairly swallowed it.

“Lord, which way?” your voice trembled. (You almost knew that He would choose the jungled path.)

“Straight ahead. But follow me. I have walked this way before you.”

He continues to lead you on the overgrown path today. You thrash through the brush. Branches of doubt slap your face. Impatient thorns tear into your flesh.

You are faint, yet pursuing. You still remember the goal, now seemingly so far away. A dream. You can barely discern your Lord through the brush.

You cry, “Lord! Where are you? I cannot see—I am confused. I—I thought you had a great plan. But this . . . ! I . . . I can’t . . . go . . .on.”

Everything becomes blurry, and you crash headlong down the path. A moan. You are too weak to call out.

But He hears! He picks you up. From somewhere the Lord produces water and bread. Groggily you eat. Revived by the water, you partake of the Bread of Life. Your body is strengthened, and soon you feel ready to resume the journey.

“Are you still willing to walk with me?”

“Yes, Lord,” you whisper, “by Your grace.”

“Then let us go.”

Josh Bechtel, Estacada, OR

When you are your weakest, God is His strongest.

Bible Reading: Judges 7:16—8:14

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

Acts 23:1–11

Psalms 36, 37

Used by Permission of Vision Publishers

PO Box 190, Harrisonburg, VA  22803

Phone:  877-488-0901

E-Mail:  [cs@vision-publishers.com]

Knock You Naked Brownies

I started this recipe last night.  First I made the caramels from scratch last night and then put the brownies together today.  They are now out of the oven and cooling. 

Knock You Naked Brownies  

1 pkg. german chocolate cake mix (I used devil's food as that's what I had on hand.)

1 C. chopped nuts (I omitted due to allergies.)

1/3 C + 1/2 C evaporated milk, separated

1/2 C melted butter

I batch of vanilla caramels (recipe to follow) or about 60 store bought

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine dry cake mix, nuts, 1/3 C evaporated milk & melted butter.  Press half of the batter into the bottom of a greased 11x9x2 in. glass baking dish.  Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 8 minutes.  In microwave or double boiler, melt caramels with remaining 1/2 C evaporated milk.  When caramel mixture is well mixed, pour over the baked layer.  Cover with chocolate chips.  Chill for about an hour or until caramel is hard.  Press the remaining batter on top of morsels.  Return to the oven and bake for 28 minutes.  (Or less if you want gooier brownies.)  Let cool before cutting.

Vanilla Caramels

(These are so, so good and I'm probably going to put the recipe in with my Christmas candy making file.)

2 C. sugar

2 C half & half

1 3/4 C light corn syrup

1/2 C butter

pinch of salt

2 Tbls. vanilla extract or paste

Prepare an 8 in. square pan by lining it with foil and spraing it with non-stick spray.  (I just used Reynold's no-stick foil & it worked fine.)  Combine the sugar, half & half, corn syrup, butter & salt in a large saucepan.  (Must be a large one as a medium one will barely hold mixture once it starts to boil and expands.  Even a small stock pot wouldn't hurt.)  Cook over medium heat , stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissovled and the mixture starts boiling.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the mixture reaches 244 degrees on a candy thermometer.  (I don't have a candy thermometer, so I just cooked it to the soft ball stage and it worked fine.)  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.  Immediately pour into the prepared pan.  (I was using a glass pan so I made sure to place a large metal spoon in the pan and poured the candy over that so the metal would absorb the heat and my pan would not shatter.)  Allow to set at room temp. until completely firm.  Chill for one hour and then cut with an oiled knife into small squares.

Have you ever thought this..................

How did that happen.. You leave Church and you think wow "how did the Pastor get into my head?" I left Church last Sunday thinking how did that happen.. I mean wowsers.. He preached on things that I had been thinking and kinda feeling about things in life and it really just hit home.. He talked about loosing our first loves. How we get to busy and we get comfortable with life that we start to choose other things over God and God's work....

I will be the first to admit that I have been comfortable with things and in fact because of fear of being hurt by others more than I have already been I tend to back off and well sometimes I tend to get myself in trouble. We all make mistakes, but we have to remember to keep God first and do His will and what He calls each of us to do and not be comfortable with the way things are or be afraid of reaching out and doing God's will before we get all not smart and do our own thing....

God Bless,

Mars who gets nervous sometimes heading to church afraid that the Pastor will get in her little head again.

From My Inbox: God's Pharmacy

I have received this before, but thought it was worth sharing! :) Blessings, Carol ```````````````````````````````````````````` A friend sent this to me. It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw.  We're such slow learners... God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body! God's Pharmacy! Amazing! A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food. Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape loo ks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food. A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.  Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human ki d neys. Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body. Avocados, Eggplant and Pears t arget the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this?  It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them). Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility. Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics. Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts. Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free rad icals from the body .

Simple Meal: Pinto Bean Tacos

I used ww organic tortillas and had a salad leftover from the night before for the greens, a small amount of cheese, a dollop of organic sour cream and some yummy fire roasted salsa. It was a delicious meal and no one minded eating the leftovers! 

Here is a picture of Emily’s taco.. she has to get creative with all her food! Haa.. haa! 

 

To Carlie Jean for her belated birthday...

A tribute to my Sweet One's birthday that we missed...
Carlie Jean, we missed your birthday this year because Daddy was in the hospital.  July 6th was such a special day, when you were born.  You were so precious and  you had so much hair, just what I wanted... we adorned you with a bow almost immediately.
Such a good baby.  You slept well, you ate well, you loved to cuddle.
You grew so quickly, becoming such a little beauty.
As quickly as you could you wanted to do everything you saw Moma do.
Washing dishes...

Making saurkraut...

Wearing your baby, or Dora...

Singing at church...
You are my big girl now, 4 years old... learning, growing and becoming more special to me every day. 
I love you Carlie Jean, my precious... and I am so thankful God blessed me with you.
My Cup Runneth Over...Chas

Little Bitty Tuesday...

My daughter, who is usually my late-sleeper, woke me up about 6:15 this morning.  She said she was just not tired!   Right now she is sitting on my bed watching Lilo & Stitch and eating a bowl of honey nut cheerios.

I've got my tea brewing & maybe that will get me going.  I have been cutting out coffee other than on the weekends when hubby is home.  I still feel like I need something hot in the morn so I'm drinking tea.  I have several different ones but right now it's called "Awake."  Very appropriate!

We made a trip to Sams over the weekend & they had some really nice looking produce.  --Something that seems hard to come by in the area lately.  We went to wal-mart and their lettuce was all wilted so I decided to go for the plain old iceburg but it was already rusty.  Then walked over to the onions & there were little bugs/flys all over.  I put the other things back & decided to try Sams.  I do realize they are run by the same general company, but I've never had that problem there.  We ended up getting good deals too. I bought a 5lb bag of red onions, 2lbs fresh mushrooms, bag of big bell peppers, & 10lb bag red potatoes & they all looked & tasted great.  While there they had just started marking the ground chuck down because it had to be sold by the next day.  So I bought a huge package of that & came home, broke it down & put it in the freezer.  We ate some last night and it was good too.

We put up spaghetti sauce (8 quarts) & more whole tomatoes (7 quarts) on Saturday.  Today I'll need to do some again.  This time we're making pizza sauce.  Never tried this recipe, but it looks like it will be pretty good.

Well, that should keep us busy for the day.  I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Weekly Menu:

Mon- Spaghetti & meatballs, cucumber & carrot sticks, garlic toast

Tues- Pizza, salad, fruit

Wed- Crockpot chicken, parmesan noodles, peas

Thurs- Hamburgers, chips & salsa

Fri- Chicken & rice casserole, corn

Sat- BBQ ribs, potato salad, beans

Cleaners came today...again

The cleaners came again today.  This was the confrontation with the boss and the employee.  Very uncomfortable for all involved, I believe.  Dh did all the talking... until he left to get corn when they started to reclean what they had missed.  When they were done, Dh was still gone, so I had to go over it with the boss and what does one say?  Can't you put elbow grease into your cleaning?  The spots we cleaned were still cleaner than what they cleaned.  Apparently professional cleaners don't use elbow grease.  Instead, he saw a couple streaks and fixed them, but admitted it wasn't wonderful and still would need cleaning.  Each spot that was touched up still wasn't good enough to be clean on its own.  When they take you on a quick tour of your own house, it looks better overall, but up close... which I didn't do when they were here, tells a different story.  The hallways steps where the smoke travelled upstairs... has a shelf ceiling where the smoke just rolled over it.  The cleaner said, they got what they could see, but it likely will show more soot in a week as it bleeds out of the paint and I may repeat cleaning once a week for several weeks and hopefully I won't have to paint.  This is the boss talking and how do you fight something they do professionally and we've experienced only once???  I took it as good enough.  Dh saw it and says... pretty pathetic effort, huh?  Of course he has a heavy arm for cleaning, so his cleaning is apparently more than necessary.  We can still see each clean spot in the living room that he did to show them that it wasn't clean enough.  I just sighed and said... well if you say it's as clean as it gets... and I'd walk over to a spot dh cleaned and look and they'd look and say... ya, it's not perfect, but it's better.  ???    They'd take a rag and wipe it to show me it doesn't come off... and it doesn't unless you rub with a little pressure.  I looked at the crew... 2 elderly men (meaning past 50 years old each) and a woman that is just bones and likely 50 yo herself.  They all are sweating and panting from climbing up and down and I just realized it wasn't worth it... they did what they could with an honest effort.  After they left, I cleaned some of the worse spots for about a half hour... and yes, they came off with several strokes over the same spots. 

I guess what bothers me after they left was that the owner and this guy would say... you can see better in different lighting (at night).  But that wasn't the point.  I began to see they were spot cleaning and not doing a systematic cleaning.  Meaning they would have had better luck had they started in one corner and did 1 foot deep and worked across the ceiling and then back again another foot out until it was all touched... not this ... squirt, squirt... got that spot, squirt, squirt... got another spot.  No wonder they leave streaks and spots totally missed. 

As for the confrontation, the owner took me aside when the other two were cleaning and said... this new gal, (they blamed it on her when they first came in and I didn't like it one bit because she cleaned the best!) works for him part time and she was new to the ceiling and floor cleaning... saying she works at his laundromat and she loves to clean houses in general, but this was her first fire to clean up after.   Anyways he says she is wonderful and likely did what she was told to do... wipe it down with sponges.  He said that the crew leader was in error by choosing the dry sponge, vs the wet rag cleaning.  He was basically told that he erred by not checking and that was his job.  He also erred in not telling her to clean with a wet rag...  Anyways, I'm not sure if I failed the test or what... was I supposed to complain about why can DH get the ceilings clean, but you can't?  I don't get why they get paid $5000 to do something poorly and if we do the job right, we don't get paid... because they already paid the cleaners to do it.  Perhaps we were supposed to get ugly and irritable, but as I said earlier, it seemed that physically it was too much for this crew.  (As a nurse, I noticed that and didn't want to push them anymore). 

After the boss left, the crew leader went into a room they said they couldn't clean any further cuz he touched it up already and was touching it up again (and still removing soot from those streaks that I was seeing).   When he came out, he walked out and I believe he would have continued to walk out without saying a word, but I said... Thank you (his name)... and meaning it... I know it was hard to come out and clean a second time with your boss over you.  I didn't say that last part, but that's what I was thinking.  Then he turns to me and says... I apologize for offending you in any way, it wasn't what I meant to do.  You wanted a clean house and your satisfaction is what we desire... now you are satisfied so things turned out alright for everyone.  He turns and walks out.  I just stood there, unsure of how to take the apology.  I am sure that he went and touched up the laundry room just to have time to hang back and give the apology if I gave him opportunity to do so and I did.  

After they left, I had a mixture of feelings.  I felt bad for them all.  I felt upset the house still isn't any cleaner.  I felt angry when I found they had spilled cleaner on our couch and didn't say a word... It is a bit greasy and I hope it comes out of it... right now I have a spot on it.  I feel frustrated that we went through this without any improvement... I was hoping at least one ceiling or one wall would be saved, but no.  It is all still as it was ... in need of something to cover the streaks... or in need of some elbow grease.  The insurance adjuster said to wait on the dining room ceiling to see what the boss could do... and he dabbed at the spot, but it really isn't much cleaner... and I fear the insurance adjuster will say to paint the ceiling cuz they won't pay to replace that room.  That will just look sick, in my opinion... the fancier dining room with flat painted tile and the only tile we can find to replace in the kitchen is designed tile... the tile won't match... the rooms won't blend like they did... I was thinking if they could save the tile, it has a gold fleck in it and I could paint the new ceiling tiles gold to blend the two rooms.  I hate to sound picky, but I really liked the tile that was in there and to see it just carelessly cleaned one day to make it have to be paintable... due to a stubborn employee who felt I should thank him for leaving streaks so I could repaint the house.  UGH. 

So, now we wait for the insurance adjuster to come again so we know where to go from here.  I just wanted to cry after they left today.  Not because of any loss... I can deal with that... in fact it seems it would have been easier if the entire house had burned down... I could live in the camper and life would be stable... I would know what is expected and what is going down, but this shaking up of my life is just hard.  Crying seemed senseless... so instead I did laundry then played in the pool with my girls.  When Dh got home from his offshift (yes he got called after they left) then we unloaded corn for the chickens and got that into the barn.  A full day.  Just keep plugging along.   Perhaps that is part of the point... we can't control everything... but, we have to keep going.  I will be emailing the adjuster our estimates for kitchen repairs tomorrow.  The weather is to be warm this week, but not overly hot.  A good week for cleaning.  *grin* 

FYI:  I've logged 90 hours in cleaning our house as of yet.  My estimate to finish cleaning logs in around 150 hours to go.  That is getting in places that the insurance guy is not wanting to pay... the storage area upstairs and the small tv room, both of which were lightly affected.  He will pay for me to clean the walls, but not ceiling or floors or contents.  That area alone estimates around 50 hours.  There is a LOT of stuff up there that needs to go.  My down time has consisted of these updates and reading.  I'm trying to read down my pile of "to read" books... so that they can leave the house.  My current book I am reading is How to Clean Anything.  Some good ideas, but some eye rolls as well.  I think it was written by a professional cleaner because he says using elbow grease is not a good plan... I laughed... I understand the cleaning when it is lightly dirty... it just seemed to be funny... like using elbow grease is not for "good cleaners".  Seems to be this cleaning company's motto...(no elbow grease) 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Monday Homestead Happenings...

Well, not much is going to be happening on this homestead this week because we are knee deep in VBS. It is like working a part time job. We left the house today at 8 AM because we live 25 minutes from church and returned home at about 1:30 PM. I started a new breakfast plan that I am hoping will carry over into the new school year. Everyone is getting their own breakfast. For years, I felt that I must make and serve a nice breakfast to my kids because my children were home. That worked very well at that time, but the older children are getting older. It is just not working for them to wait around for the little ones, so everyone is getting their own breakfast starting today. So far; so good.

Somehow in the midst of this VBS chaos I need to figure out how to take care of 16 quarts of sour cherries that I got at the farmer's market. They are seconds, but they were such a deal I could not pass them up. They are in the refrigerator, but I know I must attend to them ASAP.

My voice is improving. Thank you all very much for your prayers. I am still not able to talk beyond quiet conversations, but the raspiness is dwindling down to virtually nothing. Thank you, LORD!

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Blessings,
Jennie