Dos and Don'ts of Decorative Soap

I spent the day helping my mother-in-law take down her holiday decorations. Among these are two decorative soaps. I unpacked them for her in December and packed them back up today. Apparently, since these are decorative soaps, they are to be used as decorations and never as soaps. I don't get it. I understand the concept of decorative soaps, but in my world after they serve their purpose decoratively they serve their purpose practically - I use them as soap.

When I was young I had a number of relatives who had decorative soaps in their bathrooms. I never understood their purpose. Once I asked my aunt if I could use one to wash my hands and she was horrified. How dare I even suggest it? After that I never asked to use them again.

Out of curiosity I asked my mother-in-law how long she had been unpacking and packing back up these soaps. Can you guess how long? Apparently these soaps (which no longer smell interesting - they just smell old) were given to her as a gift by a good friend. Over 30 years ago.

That's right, 30 years.

I was a bit speechless. I suggested that perhaps she might want to consider letting the soaps go. She's considering it. By that I mean she packed them back up and, when she unpacks them next year, she might decide to let them go. If they weren't 30 years old I would have suggested that she just use them as soap. Now they're just trash.

Soap must be sturdy stuff, to last that long!

This situation makes me wonder about my candles. My mother-in-law gives me a holiday-appropriate candle every year (snowball, Christmas tree, candy cane.) I usually display each candle during the holiday season and burn it soon after. Isn't that what you're supposed to do with candles? Now I'm wondering if these candles were meant as permanent decorations. Little waxy statues. Lots of fun.

Red Scarf Project

Since I just mentioned my lack of craft projects in January, I was pleased to come across this. If you knit or crochet this is a fast and easy way to help out foster children who are going to college. The deadline is at the end of the month, so, quick, knit up a scarf!

Have you delurked?

I must admit, that was the first time I used the word delurked in a sentence! Is it actually a word? I've been reading about delurking week, so I thought I would do a quick post and mention it. If you're an occasional reader and would like to comment, go ahead and do so. Make sure to link to your blog so I can return the favor! If you would like to continue lurking (as I know many of you do), be my guest. I certainly do enough lurking of my own. I try to comment when I have something to say, but more often than not I just read! Anyhow, happy delurking!

Pre-made Sandwiches

And by pre-made I don't mean take a loaf of bread and make sandwiches ahead of time! :) I try to bake bread weekly, although I do freeze loaves for when I get busy. When I'm on top of things we don't always run out of bread before I need to make more. Here's something I do when making the dough for two loaves of bread:

Put half the dough in a bread pan to rise. Take the other half and divide it into small balls (I usually end up with about 16.) Roll each ball out like a tortilla, and don't worry about making them round. Take your sandwich fillings (I usually use cheese and soy ham) and put on the flat "tortillas." Fold the sides of each "tortilla" underneath it so the fillings won't leak when baked. Bake along with your bread, but for about half the time. When they're done they should look like dinner rolls.

These make great sandwiches. You can eat them cold or hot and either freeze or refrigerate them. Other filling suggestions are peanut butter and jelly, pizza toppings, or barbeque (soy barbeque, in my case.)

Enjoy!

Furoshiki Update

I promised an update on the Furoshiki method of wrapping, which I wrote about here. I wrapped most of my gifts this year using the second diagram (Yotsu Musubi) and was pleasantly surprised. The gifts looked lovely. I highly recommend fabric wrapping whenever possible. I used to tie the packages up with ribbons but this way is faster and easier for people to unwrap!

Snood?

For many people January is a time for resolutions. For me it means new projects! I do a lot of knitting and sewing, and many of my projects throughout the year are for other people. After the busy holiday season I usually have most of my projects wrapped up and I'm ready for new things to work on. This year I still have several sewing projects for things around the house, but I have no knitting projects in the works. I like to have projects to work on while watching movies. I wanted something fast and simple, so I decided to make this. I like everything about it except the name. Snood? Questionable. I'm selfishly knitting it for myself. I rarely make things for myself, but I was needing a new winter hat so I think this fits the bill. I'm using scrap yarn (Bernat Soft Boucle) so there's no extra cost and I should be done with it soon so I'll be able to enjoy it this winter! I'll let you know if it's as cozy as it looks.

Blogs I Enjoy

I've added a few blogs I enjoy so go check them out if you're interested! I'm by no means done, but my time is limited.

Unanticipated Absence

My apologies to those of you who take the time to regularly check in here. Although I realized that I would have to take some time off around the holidays, my internet provider sped up the process for me! We had unreliable internet service for several weeks. We have finally corrected the problem, but are still less than happy with our service. Oh, well. When you live in the woods there are limited choices.

I plan to make up for my absence by adding some new features. My long-awaited links, which I've been meaning to add for awhile, should be going up this week. Want to be added? Comment here and I'll check out your blog. I'm also toying with the idea of book reviews. My posts about moving seem to be the most popular, so I'll try to do more of those.

On that note I'm off to do other things, but check back later for a real, honest-to-goodness post!

Cat Brush

Having cats in the house usually means having cat hair everywhere. When Charlie was our only cat we were spoiled - he has short hair and spends most of his time outside. With Nola and Brogan in the mix we end up with cat hair on all the furniture. A few years ago my husband was annoyed by our sad little vacuum that did little to clean cat hair out of the carpet. He used a cat brush that we normally brush the cats with to brush the carpet. It worked wonders! Since then we have always used a cat brush for extra cleaning on the main areas of carpets. We currently have no carpeting, but I continue to use the cat brush on stubborn furniture. It also works on curtains. I usually go over things once with the brush and once with the lint roller. I try to do this daily, which really keeps the cat hair buildup minimal!

Why freeze easy dishes?

I've taken to freezing side dishes in addition to casseroles and full meals. I do this for days when we'll be busy right after dinner. I freeze things like seasoned rice, mixed veggies and pasta with sauce in sandwich sized Ziplocks (several smaller bags thaw faster than one large bag.) When I know dinner will be quick I just pull out the appropriate bags. I can take them out in the morning so they thaw throughout the day or put them in warm water to thaw faster. Although all these sides could be cooked quickly, I also save myself time by having less cookware to wash. Just call it organic tv dinner... :)

Soak Those Dishes!

My dirty dishes seem to multiply exponentially this time of year. Between extra baking and extra company there seems to be a never-ending pile to tackle. I prefer to soak dishes before washing them because who wants to spend extra time scrubbing? A quick soak makes everything easier to wash. The problem is the size of my sink. With all the exponentially multiplied dishes I don't have room for all of them in the sink. My solution? Extra wash tubs - the kind people often put in sink basins. I set a few of them on the counter, fill them with soapy water, and put the dirty dishes in. (In case you're wondering, I do separate dishes by type. Not necessary, I know, but I find it easier to wash all the plates at once, all the bowls at once, etc.) If I need extra drying space I spread towels on the table and use cooling racks! I love being able to wash several loads of dishes at once.

Kitchen Extension Cord

Here's a "why didn't I think of that years ago?" idea I had a few months ago. On a wall in the kitchen (near an outlet) I mounted two hooks. I plugged in an extension cord and now keep it wrapped around the hooks. This has been so convenient! Our kitchen is central to the house and the kitchen table is used for much more than just eating. With an extension cord conveniently ready to be used we can now use small appliances, our laptops, and my sewing machine at the kitchen table without going through the hassle of finding available outlets. This idea could actually work anywhere in the house but for me it's the most beneficial in the kitchen!

Vegetarian High IQ?

Alright, I acknowledge that many people use logic to come up with decisions and solutions that are the opposite of my (logical, in my opinion) decisions and solutions. That being said, I enjoyed reading this article!

All Those Cards

In addition to the overuse of wrapping paper this time of year, there is an overuse of paper cards. I have no problem with the exchange of greetings, but many cards are used once and then recycled (or, worse, thrown away.) For years I kept my cards, sorted by year, in a designated box. When my box started overflowing I finally started doing what my wonderful great-aunt had been doing for years:

Turn your old cards into new cards by cutting out pictures or phrases that you like and gluing them together. Use the back of old cards as the cardstock base for your new cards. This is a great family project and a fun way of making new cards. Now I keep cards with particular sentimental value and reuse the rest.

All That Wrapping Paper

Following my post on wrapping presents in fabric, I thought I would share a few other earth-friendly things I do around the holidays. Here are some tips for reusing pieces of wrapping paper that are too small to re-wrap gifts with:

• Origami - and by this I don't mean complicated paper creations. Make your own 3D stars, jumping frogs, or anything else that crosses your mind. If you don't know how to do patterns yourself, there are plenty of online resources.
• Scrapbooking - if you're a scrapbooker and plan to organize your holiday photos why not use wrapping paper to set the visual scene?
• Confetti - I personally don't like confetti at all, but if your family participates in that particular New Year's tradition, make some of your own out of wrapping paper.
  

I really do love my cats...

What could make me love my cat more than when he stays in the house because all his favorite outdoor spots are covered in snow, ignores the lovely enclosed litterbox that the other cats have no problem using, and turns my perfectly good bathmat into his new litterbox? How could I not love that?

Vitamins and Medicines

I'm curious how other people store their vitamins and medicines. In the past we've had the traditional medicine cabinet in the bathroom and vitamins on a shelf or in a cupboard in the kitchen. I recently reorganized and tried to come up with a better solution. I started with a large wooden basket on top of the fridge with all of our vitamins and medicines in it. For more convenience I switched to two baskets - one with our everyday vitamins and one with our medicines (Vitamin C, herbal teas, etc.) I think I like the new system so far. It took me awhile to get there, though. Does anyone else have a better (or different) solution? Or am I the only one who spends time contemplating the organization of pills? Hmmm...that's a distinct possibility.

I Love My Roof

After living in several houses with less than adequate roofs, I'm really appreciating this one. What I mean is, our last two houses had roofs that lacked good drainage. One was very flat and one had poorly designed gutters. The result was that at least once each winter we had to go up on the roof and knock down some of the snow. Now we have a wonderfully slanted roof with excellent drainage. For the past week I've been watching giant icicles form around the house. Now that the snow is starting to melt our fabulous roof is encouraging those giant icicles to come crashing down, a few at a time, sending me to jump several feet in the air each time. I don't mind, though, because there'll be no climbing on the roof this year! :)

Ziplock Clothesline

I use Ziplocks often, and reuse them as many times as possible. I used to become so frustrated about how to dry them after washing them. I would precariously balance them over other drying dishes and they were never dry when it came time to put the dishes away. I came up with this idea: I have a small shelf hanging on the wall above my kitchen sink. (I keep sponges and dish soap on it.) I took a piece of yarn and attached it to either end of the shelf. I clipped as many clothespins as would fit on it. Now when I wash Ziplocks I immediately hang them up. (I wash and dry them inside out so the insides don't get moldy.) I can let them dry for as long as necessary. Very useful!

Fabric Gift Wrapping

Every holiday season I become frustrated by the amount of wasted paper that goes into gift wrapping. (I get particularly frustrated by the number of people who don't even bother recycling all of that wrapping paper!) For birthdays I usually put gifts in reusable bags, but during the holidays there's that whole wrapped-presents-under-the-tree tradition. I have previously used fabric in creative ways, tying it with ribbon and twine. I recently came across this incredibly useful tutorial on how to wrap gifts in fabric without using anything but the fabric to hold itself together! I'm so excited to try all the different methods! (Unfortunately I don't have gifts to wrap that match all of the shapes...) Anyhow, I'll let you know how things go once I actually start my wrapping.