What I did on my summer vacation...

We went to Pulaski and did a little sightseeing one day, bought some corn and tomatoes from the Amish and then came back home.

No we did more than that LOL.  One day I did six loads of laundry, canned spaghetti sauce, tomato juice and the next day did corn.  We ripped out the carpet in our bedroom and laid down laminate flooring which took two days.  And now we are sore, all over and tired.  I think I need a vacation from my vacation ;)  I did  laundry yesterday and it rained...thought it was going to just be cloudy.  Oh well it did dry and now it is rain water soft LOL.

We're still on vacation so we'll see what else we can do...and keep ourselves out of trouble we promise :)

CD Envelope tutorial

Yay!  I actually got this one out on Friday...I'm way ahead of myself.  I think the wedding pic CD is a great idea.  Or you could make a CD with old pics of your family and give as gifts.  Everyone likes to look at old family photos if only to make fun of the clothes and hairstyles (what was she thinking?) LOL.

All of the Friday Freebies will now be MyMemories Suite Compatible. What does that mean??? It means that you can now load the freebies directly into your MyMemories Suite Software, and then completely customize them with any paper and embellishments that you have. If you don't have the software, you can still download the sample project and the elements, but you will not be able to customize your  project.



http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

CD Envelope Tutorial

1. Print your CD envelope and card on cardstock and gather supplies. (Recommended supplies: craft knife, cutting mat, metal edged ruler, small scissors, glue runner, bone folder)

2. Start with the card and fold on the fold guides in the middle of the page. You do not need to fold anywhere else for the card, because the rest will be cut off.


3. With the card folded in half, use the metal edged ruler and craft knife and cut along the bottom edge and the sides. Cut about ¼” in from the printed edge. This will make your card slightly smaller than the envelope so it will fit inside.



4. Now you have a finished card.

5. Next are the instructions on making the envelope. Take the printed envelope and fold on all fold lines. There should be a total of 4 folds.

6. Cut along the outside edges using scissors.


7. Fold the 2 side flaps in towards the middle and apply glue along the side edges of the back piece.


8. Push the back piece up to adhere the sides and the back together. This will form your envelope.


9. You can now write inside your card and put a name on the front of the envelope and you are ready to share your fun card and envelope. Enjoy!!

Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Monsanto and Cargill messing with Mother Nature...Again

Well now they want to mess with the oceans, lakes and streams...

• The soy industry, Monsanto, Cargill and other agribusiness giants are trying to position GM soy as a “sustainable” choice for aquaculture (farmed fish) feed
• As soy is not a natural food found in the oceans, it poses serious risks of pollution, lack of nutrient content in seafood, and contamination of the oceans with herbicide-saturated GM soy
• There is also concern about adding GM soy to yet another area of the food supply; it’s already ubiquitous in processed food and factory-farmed meat
• By boycotting not only farmed fish but also GM soy, you’re taking a stand in support of natural, organic and independent community farms both on land and at sea

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/17/genetically-modified-soy-for-farmed-fish.aspx?e_cid=20120717_DNL_artNew_2

People are going to be dying from hunger in this country.  Taking all the nutrition from our food is NOT a good idea.  Shame on them for polluting our food chain and shame on us for buying what they're selling.

Check out this blog post

http://baconandeggs-scifichick.blogspot.com/2012/07/most-honest-312-minutes-of-television.html

Little update

GARDEN/HOUSE:
We finally got rain.  I could hear the plants and trees sighing, no actually I could, really.  The seeds we planted while waiting for rain all came up so looks like we might be having some cukes and beans after all.  DH has off this week and we are going to do some work around the house.  We want to finish the floors in the living room and two small bedrooms.  And we are going to tear out the carpeting in our bedroom and put down laminate in that room as well.  We also have to do all the closet floors.  Then DH is going to till the garden again and we are going to plant some more seeds for our fall garden.  We have never planted a fall garden so this is all new to us.  With the drought, there was one nice thing.  Not very many bugs.  But then there weren't very many plants either LOL.

I have been getting a lot of little peppers and tomatoes off the garden.  I have been freezing them until I have enough to can up some sketti sauce.  I found a recipe for hot sauce I want to try since the peppers that survived are all hot ones.

KITCHEN:
I actually canned some plum preserves the other day.  DH saw them and decided to buy them.  We brought them home, he tasted one and said they are sour and hard as a rock.  Yep he was right they are sour and hard as rocks.  After spending a couple of hours pitting and chopping them up, I told him do not EVER get these again.  My fingers were sore until the next day.  But and here's the thing, they made wonderful preserves.  I had to taste test them before they were canned LOL.  I put them in the slow cooker and let them go on high for about four hours.  That softened them up.  I still didn't use all of them either so I was thinking maybe I could put them with another fruit (blueberries or boysenberries since I have lots in the freezer) and make some jam.  Has anyone done this before?  I think they are Damson plums but I'm not sure.

I got some green peppers from the Amish last week and cut those up and put them in the freezer so I can make my grandma's pepper relish since we are on the last jar of that.  When I make up a batch it usually lasts a couple of years.  At this rate I won't have to make up any relish or jellies/jams/preserves for at least 2-3 years.

I also have all those potatoes I got from the garden.  I'm thinking of canning most of those up.  I had canned some store bought potatoes in the fall and those were real handy to make some hashbrowns for breakfast.  I also have a bunch of hamburger I want to can up too.  I don't want to wait until we loose electricity and then say I should have canned it up.

CHICKENS:
The girls are doing fine.  We had been giving them watermelon and had a fan on them during the heatwave.  Maybe we were giving them a little too much watermelon cause they kind of got the squirts, poor things.  We have two that we are going to have to clean their butts up.  This is something that we always look forward to...next flock we get will be handled more cause chasing chickens is not a lot of fun.

CATS:
The cats are doing great except Roxy who seems to be feeling his age lately.  Penny is loving the outdoors and in all that heat she wanted to go out but she wouldn't come in when you called.  Crazy girl!  And she crawls under the door to the chickens fenced in area and stays with them.  I don't know maybe they have a girl get together :)  Tikki has been his lazy self but has been jumping up on the bed after DH leaves in the morning so I can make a fuss over him.

QUILTING:
I worked on a small quilt and got most of the quilting done on it.  I just have to bind it and it will be done.  I also started quilting on another one and almost have that done except the binding.  I knitted up a little pair of footies for me.  I only had one little ball of yarn in this particular colorway and thought I would try to make a pair.  I even had a little bit left over.  The ball only had about 200 yards in it which isn't quite enough to make a decent pair of socks.  I have a couple of more 200 yard balls in my stash so I think I will be making some more.

READING:
Right now I'm reading Uncle Tom's Cabin.  It's not bad and really interesting that it was written before the Civil War.  If you haven't read it, it's about slavery.  Some parts kind of slow down the narrative but when you think that the author actually lived during this time and saw these things going on it really makes you think.  I have a lot more to read after I get done with this one.  I checked my Kindle and I have 7 pages of books on there.  Each page is 10 books so that's 70 I have to read.  Like I don't have other things that have to get done...

NEW PLACE:
We called around to see how much it would be to put in a water well.  The two places we called it was going to be over $6000.  Crazy.  Of course, it was just a guesstimate because they really don't know how far down they have to drill but that price was the minimum.  We have a couple more places to call.  Hopefully we can find someone more reasonable.  We have decided to get a little cabin.  We looked at a few and really liked them.  DH is saying now maybe we should have bought a piece of land with a house and well already on it.  I could say I told him so but I won't ;)  He thought it would be cheaper to get a piece of property and put a cabin on it...ummm NO.  We went to Marvin's (a building supply store) today to look around.  And we kept saying we need one of those and a few of those and....you get the picture.  This cabin is just the shell.  If we have extra windows we want to be put in they will put them in for $50 extra but we have to buy the windows.  Marvin's has excellent prices but I told DH that we should check at Home Depot and Lowe's because they have returns and scratched and dented things that they put on sale.  Now of course I know that windows and doors can't be too dented.  You have to be able to open and close them but a few cosmetic scratches doesn't hurt the operation of them and I have seen some pretty good deals before in those stores.  Oh and the well situation, we asked about whether they douse (you know when someone goes around with a stick or two metal rods and locates water) and the one driller just laughed.  Hey if someone can find water and there is less ground to drill through I think we might try it.  Jeez Louise we all aren't made of money.  Anyway I remembered that one of my books in the Foxfire set had something about wells in it so I looked and yes in volume #4 there is all about dowsing and well digging.  So DH and I decided that we will try to douse.  We're not going to dig however.  That can be dangerous.  Wish us luck!  I'll let you know what we find if  anything.

Well I think I caught you up on everything for now.  I hope to get some pics up soon.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Purse Cards with Tutorial

I can't believe I haven't posted any freebies since April.  Here are some great little cards in the shape of purses.  If you have My Memories software you can download these into the software and change up all the elements and backgrounds to what you like!  But remember you don't have to have the software to enjoy these freebies the way they are shown in the pictures, just download to your computer and print them out.

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Purse Card Tutorial

1. Print your Purse Card templates on cardstock and gather supplies. (Recommended supplies: small craft scissors, bone folder, 8-12" of ribbon, stapler, tape or velcro)
TIP: To print your information on the inside create another page with the template in place. Put all your text and embellishments in (leaving a little room on the edges) and then remove the template right before exporting or printing the inside page on the back of the first. This will keep from having to worry about if the templates line up exactly when cutting out your card.


2. Using the scissors cut along outside line.



3. Fold card at indentations.
TIP: Using a bone folder will help you get crisp edges on your project.


4. Repeat by folding down top flap.


5. Staple ribbon to both sides of your card on the inside to look like a strap or handle.


6. Enjoy the finished cards and share. Don't forget to use your imagination. The possibilites are endless!

Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Another cleaning tip

I had seen around the blogosphere that some people were using a mixture of dishwashing liquid and vinegar to get their tubs clean.  I decided to try it.  And boy does it work!  Here's what you do:

1/2 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid
1/2 cup white vinegar

Put the above mixture into a spray bottle and spray down your tub/shower.  Let it sit for an hour (I couldn't wait and only waited about 20 minutes) and then wipe off with a damp cleaning rag.  It takes off any soap scum and hard water stains.   I have to admit though if you have breathing problems you do NOT want to use this as it is very strong smelling.  I turned on my bathroom vent for about an hour afterwards just to clear the air but it does work and is a lot cheaper to use than the bathroom cleaners I have tried in the past which did not work so give it a try and let me know what you think of this.

PS:  Make sure you wipe your tub/shower down with water several times as this mixture can be slippery.  Be clean but also be safe :)

New cleaning tip

DH came up with this one all on his own!  We use big glass gallon jars with the small necks for our milk but this tip will work for any jars you might have.  He wanted to use one of the gallon jars but it had mold on the bottom and we had no way of getting that mold out until...he used this solution:

1/2 cup baking soda (he used a funnel to get it in the jar)
1/2 cup white vinegar

Just put the lid on and shake.  The mixture fizzes up and does a wonderful job of getting out any yuckies in the bottom of the jar.  Then just rinse out and flip the jar upside down to dry.

This worked great and it means we won't be throwing out any more small necked gallon jugs.  It also gets off  the dried milk that seems to form just under the curved edge of the jug.

Bee article

Interesting article on bees

• Earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Agriculture allegedly stole and destroyed a beekeeper’s hives and bees after inspectors claimed the hives had foulbrood, and that the beekeeper, Terrence Ingram, had failed to dispose of the hives as instructed. However, Ingram feels he could prove his hives did not suffer from the contagious disease, and that the Department acted without due process
• Mr. Ingram suspects the destruction of his bees may be more related to his research on Monsanto’s Roundup and his documented evidence that Roundup kills bees
• One of the forerunning theories of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is that it’s being caused by genetically engineered crops—either as a result of the crops themselves or the pesticides and herbicides applied on them, such as Monsanto’s Roundup
• Ingram has studied the effects of Roundup on honeybees for the past 15 years, and believes he had acquired sufficient amounts of data to show that Roundup not only causes bee die-offs, but may be the cause of CCD

To read the entire article go here:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/05/monsanto-roundup-effects-on-honeybees.aspx?e_cid=20120705_DNL_artNew_1