A Window Full of Future Vegetables

Several of my seedlings have really taken off.

Some not so well. I put these outside on the patio table and in the evening they were dead. It looked like something had sucked the stems dry.

Got Snails. Try a all natural remedy Straight from Mother Nature herself. Make your back yard a habitat for song birds and they will take care of the snails for you. Want proof? I got this shot while I was at my computer the other day. Sorry it looks so grainy the window needs cleaned.

Male Cardinal eating a snail.

Welcome Warm Weather

The last couple days have been so nice. Warm but not too warm and low humidity. Mother nature is just calling for us to go outside and play.

Which means it's also time for the warm weather bummers .... Sun Burn and Bug Bites. So here are a couple of natural remedies to help keep your out door time fun.

Lets start with those pesky bugs. Try this natural bug repellent instead of the chemical stuff they sell in the stores.

Bug Repellent

Take 1 ounce olive oil and add

15-20 drops lemon oil

15-20 drops citronella oil

15-20 drops eucalyptus oil

15-20 drops lemon grass oil.

Mix well and put into a spray bottle and use as need.

Did the bugs already get you then try these

This first one my mom used when my brother and I decided to start an ant farm and catch our own ants.

Baking Soda Paste to relieve itching:

Take 1/4 tsp baking soda and mixt it with a little ice water to make a paste then spread over the bug bite. Repeat if necessary.

Or

Take 10 - 20 drops of lavender oil, tea tree oil, Chamomile, cedarwood oil and eucalyptus oil and mix into 1 oz aloe vera gel. Smooth over itchy area. Store extra in a cool dark place.

Now for that nasty sunburn. The best thing is of course to keep from getting a sunburn in the first place. You know the drill sunscreen, hat, Seek shelter at the hottest part of the day. If for some reason you still get too much of a good thing then seek relief from your ice tea.

Take 2 or three tea bags or Three tablespoons loose tea Place in a bowl with 2 cups boiling water. Let seep for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups Ice to cool it off. Take a wash cloth and dab tea onto sunburn. Do Not rub it will irritate the burn.

Penny Pincher Parade

Dang I missed a whole week of blogging... That really puts a dent in my Comment Challenge goal :P. I also missed last weeks Penny Pincher Parade.

To make it up this week I'm posting Two and both you can do online.

1. Do you have a favorite store or restaurant? Well if they are online then sign up for their newsletter it can save you plenty of money when you visit them. For Example I signed up at Chuck E. Cheese and received a coupon for 100 tokens for $10 and a second coupon for a large pizza, 4 sodas, and 40 tokens for $17.00. I spent the day letting the kids play all they want and we still have tokens left over for under $30. Now this was a special treat we don't usually go there but the kids worked very hard and deserved a treat. I also signed up for Dave and Busters newsletter (Think Chuck E Cheese for Grownups) and got a coupon for $10 free play,no purchase necessary. Yes I know they expect you to buy something but you don't have to.

2. Do you eat or shop when you get bored. Well here are a few sites that can keep you busy and keep your cash in your pockets. These are all free game sites. With so many games to choose from you can play every day for months and not play the same game twice.

Pogo
Big Fish Games
Addicting Games
Games Games
Free Arcade
Maple Story
Rune Scape

There are tons more free games out there just take a look around and find your own boredom buster

Happy Mothers Day to All You Mom's Out There

Yes I know it's a day late but I was spending Mothers Day with my kids. Here are my presents. The Sixth Graders went on a camping trip last week and my daughter got to do some blacksmithing. She made me this Heart Shaped Trivet.

And My son made me this Hand Painted Tile at school.

I'm so lucky to have such crafty kids

I have to work today. I'm really enjoying working at Petco. It's fun to get to play with the animals I can't have as pets. (Don't want to bring home an expensive meal for the cats ya know.)

There are two beautiful hand raised Sun Conures there right now. They are sweet and friendly and love attention. If you walk by they start squawking up a storm to get your attention and don't stop till you are out of sight or stop to scratch their heads.

I have to make sure I get back on later though, I took the 1000 comment challenge and haven't gotten very far. I thought I was a pretty good commenter but I don't just post frivolous comments. Yes sometimes all I have to say is a comment on how much I like your picture but I see lots of pictures and don't put that on all of them just the ones I really like. Sometimes I read a post and it's very heart felt or sad and I just don't have anything to say. I have even run across a few posts that I didn't agree with or found down right offensive. I didn't leave anything there either I follow the old rule

"If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all."

One or two blogs I found I left before I even read anything. They had advertising space on there blogs, not that I'm against that in these times having a little extra income is a good thing, But these particular blogs have rather obscene half naked people in them . Well I have two kids here and can see whats on the screen if they are near by and those ads are definitely not something I want them seeing.

So I will be back after the kids go to bed I hope everyone has some good posts to comment too LOL

Have a great Monday. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for the Penny Pincher Parade

Hazards of Walking Continue

Once again some idiot jumped through a stop without bothering to look where he was going. Only today it was my son he almost hit. He was crossing the road about a half a foot in front of me.

This guy didn't even have the lame excuse of talking on his cell phone. Just too full of himself to even bother to take a half a second to check to make sure the road was clear before gunning the engine.

I don't even know what to do about it. I don't want to have to drive my car to the school just because some people are too stupid to check the road before hitting the gas. I have seen so much careless driving since moving to Long Island it's a miracle that anyone is still alive here. You would think though even the biggest (insert favorite insult here) would know that there are going to be kids walking to and from school in the morning and afternoon and to check the road before moving on their self important way.

Sorry for the double rant. Next post will be more cheerful I promise.

Container Garden Update.

It's been a little bit since my last post. I haven't been able to do much with all the rain.


I have gotten my hanging pot ready for my Tomato Experiment. I pulled the bottom off this hanging pot

and have cut a whole in the bottom for the large tomatoes and I'll put the cherry tomatoes on top and hang it outside.

I haven't been able to dig up the flower bed yet. Some rather lovely daffodils bloomed and I'm waiting for them to die off so I can transfer the bulbs elsewhere. They are almost there. You can see in this picture there is only a couple almost dead flowers left on them.

My little pepper plant is doing well too. I've had to thin it out to just one plant and I'm going to have to transfer it to a new pot soon. It probably should have had pepper already but I think how cool I keep my home has cause it to grow rather slowly.

The Hazard of Walking Your Kid to School

Once again I head out in the morning and take my kids to school. It's a nice morning for it... the rain has stopped (at least temporarily), the birds are out singing and it's not too hot and not too cold.

I get to the school no problem (thank goodness). As I'm heading home having a lovely chat with my friend K we stop and wait for the light.

The light changes and we head out to cross the street and this Rather large SUV tries to mow us down making a left turn. She must have been in an awful hurry ...........Oh No Wait she was just yakking on her cell phone and wasn't watching.

She didn't even bother to roll down her window to apologize she just mouthed I'm sorry through the window as if that makes it all better.

It's Tuesday Time for The Penny Pincher Parade

Holy Socks Batman it's Tuesday.

I was sitting around thinking about what to post today as I was taking off my shoes. When I noticed that once again my extra sharp toenail had once again cut a hole through my sock. Yes my big toes have freakishly sharp nails my hubby says I have Velociraptor nails.

Now I have never gotten the hang of darning socks to fix them and the rest of the sock is fine. So when the whole becomes too big and my toe is sliding out the socks get repurposed.

This idea came to me years ago when I was finishing school. My hubby is in the Air Force and when I was going to college in New Jersey he recieved an assignment to Arizona. He rented a small apartment while I stayed behind and finished up my degree. Then of course we sold the house and moved. My hubby had purchased a Swiffer Sweeper to clean up his apartment. Now I really don't like the Swiffer products the whole use once and throw it away idea gets on my Green nerves. Well here we were stuck with the thing. One day I couldn't find my broom (the kids had taken it outside. So in a moment of inspiration ( Yes I get these once in a while like the time I used dryer lint from a load of white to make clouds on one of my kids projects LOL)

I grabbed one of my old socks with the giant hole in the toe and chopped off the toe. Then I cut it lengthwise and VOILA a nice rectangle perfect for hooking onto a Swiffer and I can throw it into the laundry instead of throwing it into the garbage. To make it last longer use a sewing machine to stitch seams along the edges.

Walking To Save the Envrionment

The Kids and I are heading out to the Library today. We could drive but we are not! We are Walking and it will be about 4 miles round trip.

When I was a kid my friend and I walked everywhere. In the summer we would walk to the local swimming pool, spend the day swimming and then walk home. I don't know the total distance but I would guess it was several miles round trip. We would also walk to Sweitzer Lake to go swimming which was even further.

Now a days parents drive their kids everywhere. I've seen parents pack their kids into big SUV's and drive their kids a block to school. It's mind boggling to think that all across the nation there are people do the same thing. How much pollution is being pumped into the atmosphere for a simple block or two to school?

If people were to allow a little more time in their day to walk the short distances it would benefit everyone. Less pollution enters the environment, less gas and money is wasted, and the more adults walking the streets the safer they become, because the nastys of the world prefer to work out of sight. Not to mention the health benefits associated with using your feet instead of your wheels. In every exercise magazine you see when the talk about walking they say leave your car in the furthest parking space and walk the extra distance.... What if you just left the car at home and walked the full distance? Think of the extra pounds you could lose. Don't have extra pounds to lose..... Then think of how much you will improve your cardiovascular health.

Need another reason to get out there and hoof it? Well as I was exploring blogs today I visited Jenn at My Kids Are My World and she was writing about BeeWell Miles . Bumble Bee Foods is Donating $ .15 for every mile walked to Breast Cancer Research. So what are you waiting for get your shoes on and take a walk.

Fruits and Vegetables For May

Back in March when I was doing my tips to save money I mentioned the cheapest Fruits and Vegetables to eat during March I would like to continue that with the first of each month being Fruit and Vegetable day. So here is the list for May.

Vegetables: Artichokes, asparagus, Broccoli, Lettuce, Okra, Rhubarb, Spring Peas, and Zucchini.

Fruits: Apricots, Cherries, Pineapples

This may not be a complete list and may be different depending on where you live. If you want to add your list post a comment and Share your knowledge.

Remember to Buy Locally if at all possible since they will have traveled the least distance and be the freshest.