I saw a picture on Facebook recently that read: "Black Friday: Because only in America people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have".
I've always had a strict "No Christmas until after Thanksgiving" rule. Partly because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I hate to lose the enjoyment of it in all the bustle of Christmas, and partly just because I'm not particularly fond of Christmas music and my rule guards me from it for just a couple weeks longer.
But this year I'm breaking my own rule and starting to think about what gifts I will buy for everyone a little earlier. Why? Because this year I've decided the gifts I purchase (at least in part) will not be like the gifts of years past. I'm tired of the cheap plastic toys, the clothes that are outgrown in a few months, the random supplies I bought for someone to clean their car because I couldn't think of anything else.
This year I want to give gifts with meaning. Gifts that will last. I want to give my nieces and nephew a gift that they can someday gift to their children. Why not? That's what people used to do. Each child had a hope chest and they were given gifts not to play with that afternoon, but to put away in their hope chest knowing they'd some day have good use for it. Now, I don't want to spoil the fun of opening up an exciting new toy. But why can't I also give a gift with a little more meaning? I think I can. And I think I will.
But here's the quandary: What do you give a young child now, that they will want to keep and preserve and use 25 or even 50 years from now?
My sister-in-law and I came up with a couple ideas of "timeless" gifts - cookie cutters, loose tea leaf holder, rolling pins. I wanted some more ideas so I started searching the web thinking that surely someone out there has already re-begun the tradition of handing down timeless heirloom gifts. Unfortunately, searching for heirloom gifts was about the most depressing thing I've ever done. It seems if you make a toy out of wood instead of cheap plastic, it's then considered timeless and heirloom quality. You charge 4 times as much for it, and there you go!
Well, I don't exactly want to give my 10 year old niece a wooden rocking horse for Christmas. It would certainly last until she has children some day, since she's not going to use it! But that's not exactly what I was looking for. I also found the idea of making quilts, which is fantastic, but my aunt recently gave all the kids quilts of their own, so that idea is out. Jewelry was another good idea, and something I've added to the list of possibilities... but what about my nephew? He's not going to want a rolling pin (unless I tell him it's a caveman's club) and jewelry is definitely out of the question!
So while I desperately want to give gifts that matter, I'm finding that society is so far removed from the idea, I may be completely on my own as far as coming up with good ideas. If you have any, I'd love to hear them!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Transitions
Several months ago (perhaps even longer ago than that) I decided to try getting away from plastic. First was plastic shopping bags. I transitioned to reusable ones and felt really good about that for a while.
Shortly after that, a family friend introduced me to homemade laundry detergent. It's incredibly inexpensive (usually just 2 pennies per load), easy to make, and works really well! I got the recipe and I've shared it with others since then. So far, it gets rave reviews. There are a few people who said they still pre-treat stubborn stains, but otherwise it's their preferred laundry detergent now. I felt really good about eliminating all those laundry detergent bottles from my life. I even tweaked the detergent recipe to have an all natural version (which I like, though it doesn't work as well on really dirty clothes, so I usually have both versions on hand).
I'll include the recipe below.
After feeling pretty proud of myself for getting rid of plastic grocery bags and plastic laundry detergent bottles I started to think about where to go next. I decided I needed to get rid of those plastic produce bags you put your vegetables in at the grocery store. So I started to look online for reusable alternatives. I found two options that got me thinking. The first was a poly mesh which allowed your food to breath while in the refrigerator and also allowed you to see what was in each bag. The other was a cotton bag which didn't allow you to see the contents but wasn't made of plastic. That's when it hit me - I was using resuable shopping bags (yay me!) but they were still made of plastic.
I started a downward spiral of obsessed thinking about whether or not a person living in modern day America could ever really eliminate plastic from their lives. I saw a documentary in which a few people claim to purchase/consume/use less than one pound of plastic a year... but I wasn't sure I really believed them. How do you buy shampoo? or cleaning products? I've never seen a store that sold these items in glass bottles or in bulk 'fill-your-own-container' type stations. Then I realized... you'd have to make your own! So I started to do some research and I found there was one ingredient common to at least 85% of the products I was researching:
Vinegar.
Well ok... so I'd need to buy lots of vinegar. It isn't expensive at all...
but I've only ever seen it sold in plastic bottles.
So now what?!? How do you make your own vinegar?!? So I started to do more research. Apparently everyone says it's not difficult at all... but from what I've been reading, it doesn't exactly seem easy either. You have to start with some "Mother of Vinegar" (which has become the new, fun to use, friendly for children's ears, expletive in my family these days). You add feed stock to it and let it go. The feed stock depends on what type of vinegar you want. Apples for apple cider vinegar, wine for white wine vinegar, and the list goes on. But, it takes 3-6 months to turn into vinegar, and then it only stays good/usable for 3-6 months after that. Most people sort of have a rolling batch going, where they add a little bit of feedstock ever week or so to a pot with a spigot on the bottom, and they just use the vinegar out of the same pot.
I wasn't quite ready to take on that challenge, so I decided that for now I'd buy my vinegar and just do my best to reuse the plastic bottles. We're in the process of moving to a new house (another transition) so I thought maybe once I was settled at the new place I could set up a vinegar station.
So I decided to try making my own shampoo and conditioner. I did some research online and found the same recipe over and over again:
Shampoo: 1 tablespoon baking soda + 1 cup water.
Conditioner: 1 tablespoon vinegar + 1 cup water.
You're kidding right? I gave it a try. Well, I wasn't impressed with the shampoo. I mixed it up and it just looked like water to me. A few recipes said it could be thickened with oatmeal so I got out my oatmeal and my mortar and pestle and crushed it up as best I could. Well, that was a flop! The oatmeal didn't really dissolve, so I ended up with chunks of oatmeal all through my hair (which no amount of rinsing could completely remove). I've suspended my efforts on the homemade shampoo. I intend to try a heavier concentration of baking soda and seeing how that works, but most of the blogs rave about how the baking soda doesn't strip your natural oils out of your hair. Well, at some point, when my hair is all greasy looking, don't I want some of that oil to be removed? This adventure is 'to be continued'.
Next was conditioner. After being disappointed with the shampoo I decided not to waste my time with such insufficient amounts of vinegar. I hopped in the shower with about 10 tablespoons of straight vinegar in a cup. When I was ready to condition my hair I filled the cup the rest of the way (about half of the cup) with water. So I had a 50:50 ratio of vinegar to water. I poured about half the cup on my hair, then filled the cup with water again (creating, essentially, a 25:75 ratio of vinegar to water). I poured the rest into my hair and started to comb through my hair. I have naturally curly hair, so I always comb my conditioner through in the shower, rinse my hair and towel dry, and don't comb it again until my next shower. I've heard of putting vinegar in your laundry rinse cycle for use as a fabric softener (which I hear works very well) so it made sense to me that vinegar would work as a conditioner for my hair. My big concern, though, was whether or not it would also work as a detangling agent for my hair which can be tough to comb through. I was amazed at how well the vinegar worked!
The blogs said my hair would NOT smell like vinegar afterwards. Well, perhaps it was because I used 10 times more vinegar than the recipe called for, but I could smell it faintly when I was done. I use a styling product in my hair, and after adding that, I could no longer smell the vinegar.
I tried again the second and third days to see if I could get the same results with less vinegar, and to see what the results were like after several days. I have to say, I'm down to using approximately 5 tablespoons of vinegar in one cup of water and I'm still really impressed. I'm going to continue using less and less vinegar until I don't get the same results.
I've done some really rough estimations on cost. If I use 4 tablespoons of conditioner per use, I spend approximately 4 cents per use. Based on my estimations of how much regular conditioner I use each day, I spend about 5 cents per use. Now, I buy the inexpensive conditioners that cost just a dollar for a 15 oz bottle. So if you're spending more than that, your cost will obviously be different. So, I'm not seeing too much of a cost savings, but on the plus side, if I use vinegar for enough things, I'll always have it around, and shouldn't ever have to worry about running out of conditioner! Also, I'm avoiding lots of man-made chemicals!
One word of caution if you decide to use vinegar: it burns! It burns your eyes if you over pour, and it burns your legs if you nick yourself shaving. So be careful!
There are several other transitions occurring in my life right now. A new house and a new pastor at my church to name a couple. I was going to talk about them all here but it seems I've already spent quite some time just talking about my transition from plastic. Guess you'll have to wait for the rest. Hopefully soon I'll have some great pictures to show of our new home!
That's my life!
Laundry Detergent
1 bar fels naptha - grate with cheese grater, melt in approximately 6 cups hot (but not boiling) water (a little more/less than 6 cups won't matter)
Mix 1.5 cups borax and 1.5 cups washing soda (NOT baking soda!) in 5 gallon bucket
Pour in melted fels naptha
Fill bucket 3/4 full (or a little fuller depending on your preference) with warm water.
Mix well
Let sit 24 hours before use for best results - if you didn't add lots of extra water, it will turn into a gel (probably with some liquid in there as well).
I use 1/2 cup per load. Some recipes say to use just 1/4 cup, others a full cup. After it has sat for a while, you may need to shake it up just a little.
For an all natural version, replace fels naptha with Dr. Bronner's all natural soap.
As an additional note: I tried the powdered soap version and it was a TON of arm shattering mixing and I was not at all happy with the results (both in effective washing and in the amount of soap I got for the amount of money and work).
Shortly after that, a family friend introduced me to homemade laundry detergent. It's incredibly inexpensive (usually just 2 pennies per load), easy to make, and works really well! I got the recipe and I've shared it with others since then. So far, it gets rave reviews. There are a few people who said they still pre-treat stubborn stains, but otherwise it's their preferred laundry detergent now. I felt really good about eliminating all those laundry detergent bottles from my life. I even tweaked the detergent recipe to have an all natural version (which I like, though it doesn't work as well on really dirty clothes, so I usually have both versions on hand).
I'll include the recipe below.
After feeling pretty proud of myself for getting rid of plastic grocery bags and plastic laundry detergent bottles I started to think about where to go next. I decided I needed to get rid of those plastic produce bags you put your vegetables in at the grocery store. So I started to look online for reusable alternatives. I found two options that got me thinking. The first was a poly mesh which allowed your food to breath while in the refrigerator and also allowed you to see what was in each bag. The other was a cotton bag which didn't allow you to see the contents but wasn't made of plastic. That's when it hit me - I was using resuable shopping bags (yay me!) but they were still made of plastic.
I started a downward spiral of obsessed thinking about whether or not a person living in modern day America could ever really eliminate plastic from their lives. I saw a documentary in which a few people claim to purchase/consume/use less than one pound of plastic a year... but I wasn't sure I really believed them. How do you buy shampoo? or cleaning products? I've never seen a store that sold these items in glass bottles or in bulk 'fill-your-own-container' type stations. Then I realized... you'd have to make your own! So I started to do some research and I found there was one ingredient common to at least 85% of the products I was researching:
Vinegar.
Well ok... so I'd need to buy lots of vinegar. It isn't expensive at all...
but I've only ever seen it sold in plastic bottles.
So now what?!? How do you make your own vinegar?!? So I started to do more research. Apparently everyone says it's not difficult at all... but from what I've been reading, it doesn't exactly seem easy either. You have to start with some "Mother of Vinegar" (which has become the new, fun to use, friendly for children's ears, expletive in my family these days). You add feed stock to it and let it go. The feed stock depends on what type of vinegar you want. Apples for apple cider vinegar, wine for white wine vinegar, and the list goes on. But, it takes 3-6 months to turn into vinegar, and then it only stays good/usable for 3-6 months after that. Most people sort of have a rolling batch going, where they add a little bit of feedstock ever week or so to a pot with a spigot on the bottom, and they just use the vinegar out of the same pot.
I wasn't quite ready to take on that challenge, so I decided that for now I'd buy my vinegar and just do my best to reuse the plastic bottles. We're in the process of moving to a new house (another transition) so I thought maybe once I was settled at the new place I could set up a vinegar station.
So I decided to try making my own shampoo and conditioner. I did some research online and found the same recipe over and over again:
Shampoo: 1 tablespoon baking soda + 1 cup water.
Conditioner: 1 tablespoon vinegar + 1 cup water.
You're kidding right? I gave it a try. Well, I wasn't impressed with the shampoo. I mixed it up and it just looked like water to me. A few recipes said it could be thickened with oatmeal so I got out my oatmeal and my mortar and pestle and crushed it up as best I could. Well, that was a flop! The oatmeal didn't really dissolve, so I ended up with chunks of oatmeal all through my hair (which no amount of rinsing could completely remove). I've suspended my efforts on the homemade shampoo. I intend to try a heavier concentration of baking soda and seeing how that works, but most of the blogs rave about how the baking soda doesn't strip your natural oils out of your hair. Well, at some point, when my hair is all greasy looking, don't I want some of that oil to be removed? This adventure is 'to be continued'.
Next was conditioner. After being disappointed with the shampoo I decided not to waste my time with such insufficient amounts of vinegar. I hopped in the shower with about 10 tablespoons of straight vinegar in a cup. When I was ready to condition my hair I filled the cup the rest of the way (about half of the cup) with water. So I had a 50:50 ratio of vinegar to water. I poured about half the cup on my hair, then filled the cup with water again (creating, essentially, a 25:75 ratio of vinegar to water). I poured the rest into my hair and started to comb through my hair. I have naturally curly hair, so I always comb my conditioner through in the shower, rinse my hair and towel dry, and don't comb it again until my next shower. I've heard of putting vinegar in your laundry rinse cycle for use as a fabric softener (which I hear works very well) so it made sense to me that vinegar would work as a conditioner for my hair. My big concern, though, was whether or not it would also work as a detangling agent for my hair which can be tough to comb through. I was amazed at how well the vinegar worked!
The blogs said my hair would NOT smell like vinegar afterwards. Well, perhaps it was because I used 10 times more vinegar than the recipe called for, but I could smell it faintly when I was done. I use a styling product in my hair, and after adding that, I could no longer smell the vinegar.
I tried again the second and third days to see if I could get the same results with less vinegar, and to see what the results were like after several days. I have to say, I'm down to using approximately 5 tablespoons of vinegar in one cup of water and I'm still really impressed. I'm going to continue using less and less vinegar until I don't get the same results.
I've done some really rough estimations on cost. If I use 4 tablespoons of conditioner per use, I spend approximately 4 cents per use. Based on my estimations of how much regular conditioner I use each day, I spend about 5 cents per use. Now, I buy the inexpensive conditioners that cost just a dollar for a 15 oz bottle. So if you're spending more than that, your cost will obviously be different. So, I'm not seeing too much of a cost savings, but on the plus side, if I use vinegar for enough things, I'll always have it around, and shouldn't ever have to worry about running out of conditioner! Also, I'm avoiding lots of man-made chemicals!
One word of caution if you decide to use vinegar: it burns! It burns your eyes if you over pour, and it burns your legs if you nick yourself shaving. So be careful!
There are several other transitions occurring in my life right now. A new house and a new pastor at my church to name a couple. I was going to talk about them all here but it seems I've already spent quite some time just talking about my transition from plastic. Guess you'll have to wait for the rest. Hopefully soon I'll have some great pictures to show of our new home!
That's my life!
Laundry Detergent
1 bar fels naptha - grate with cheese grater, melt in approximately 6 cups hot (but not boiling) water (a little more/less than 6 cups won't matter)
Mix 1.5 cups borax and 1.5 cups washing soda (NOT baking soda!) in 5 gallon bucket
Pour in melted fels naptha
Fill bucket 3/4 full (or a little fuller depending on your preference) with warm water.
Mix well
Let sit 24 hours before use for best results - if you didn't add lots of extra water, it will turn into a gel (probably with some liquid in there as well).
I use 1/2 cup per load. Some recipes say to use just 1/4 cup, others a full cup. After it has sat for a while, you may need to shake it up just a little.
For an all natural version, replace fels naptha with Dr. Bronner's all natural soap.
As an additional note: I tried the powdered soap version and it was a TON of arm shattering mixing and I was not at all happy with the results (both in effective washing and in the amount of soap I got for the amount of money and work).
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
My new Kindle (and other thoughts on books)
It's been ages since I posted last. I just sort of forgot I had a blog for a while... then when I remembered, the only thing I could think of writing about was the farm. It's a busy time of year for us - lambs arriving, shearing, new fence going up, selling/trading sheep... between the farm and my two other jobs, my life is pretty exclusively filled with work right now. And who wants to blog about work!?
Last week was my birthday. A rather uneventful day, I worked a twelve hour day (see what I mean?) and went home alone, my husband still attentively dedicated to the sheep (I love having the house to myself but after a month or so it's great to have him finally home!). Last Friday, despite being rather ill with a nasty cold, I celebrated said birthday with my in-laws, who very thoughtfully purchased me a Kindle. It's something I never would have invested in for myself. I've had my nose stuck in that thing for three days straight now, every possible extra second I have (which aren't many). Here's my preliminary review:
Why I like a real book better:
1. I can literally drop it on pavement and then pick it back up and read it without feeling like my world may have ended.
2. When I turn the page and see the end of the chapter (and the beginning of the next one) I can quickly slam the book shut and force myself to walk away and get some work done. With the Kindle, by the time I hold the power button for 7 seconds to make the screen go blank, I've already let my eyes stray to the next chapter, and I'm hooked. Oh how I hate those seven seconds.
3. If the industrialized world as we know it ends and our electrical grid fails, I can still read a real book.
4. I can lend a real book to as many friends as I want, and they can keep it as long as they want.
Why I like the Kindle better:
1. If I want to start a new book, I just type in the name and choose "download" and I have it in less than 60 seconds. No more waiting to find a day when I can drive an hour and a half to the nearest book store.
2. I can put this thin, sleek book in my purse, and have enough reading material for an entire vacation. No more choosing which three or four books to bring along with me and finding space for them, just to decide half way through my vacation I brought the wrong ones.
3. The books cost less.
4. I can read the first chapter or two of a book for free to see if I'm going to like it. I suppose I could go to the bookstore and do this... but I'd spend days in the bookstore reading the first chapter of every book I saw, and I'd never settle on any of them. With the Kindle, I can take the samples with me wherever I go, and read them as I have time.
So after all that, I'm really happy with my Kindle, and it's given me a small escape from my hectic work life. Even if I have only five free minutes, I can slip away to Australia and follow 19 year old Ed Kennedy as he thwarts a bank robbery rather by accident (I Am the Messenger) or try to understand a world quite unlike our own in A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, or learn the truth about Abraham Lincoln - the Vampire Slayer.
I'm thinking though, that I might go out and buy one last "real" book.... just in case that Zombie Apocalypse ever happens.
While I'm on the topic of books, I have something else I'd like to put out there. I seem to have found a hangup of mine I wasn't fully aware of before now:
I cannot (seriously, can't imagine trying to force myself) both read the book AND see the movie. I first started to become aware of this after reading The Time Travelers Wife. Shortly after finishing the book, I saw a movie preview. It looked great, then I heard the title. 'Oh no... they made it into a movie!?!?' I decided not to go see it. The book was hard to read at first, but after starting it a few times and sticking with it, I enjoyed having read it. I couldn't imagine the movie holding up. So I opted out.
But now I've come across a real dilemma... The Hunger Games. A trilogy. Everyone's talking about them. I saw the first movie preview and wanted to go see it... but then I found out it's a book series. And everyone is RAVING about the books. And suddenly I realized it... I have a deep seated need to choose between the two. Not like a "will I read the books first or watch the movies first?" or a "gee I wonder which is better"... it's this voice in my head saying "Make the right choice... you're going to miss out on one of the two, make sure you don't regret it". And I'm paralyzed. The books are at the top of my reading wish list, but I can't bring myself to purchase them... what if I want to go see the movies? It's tearing me apart... and I have no idea why. Why can't I just do both?? Compare them? It'll be a great discussion topic. But no... choose I must.
I'd like to say just one last thing on the topic of books - if my childhood best friend Laura Brautigam's (now Laura Lee Anderson) book isn't published and made available on my Kindle, I'm going to throw a fit. A two-year-old-in-a-super-market-who-can't-have-cookies fit.
That's my life!
Last week was my birthday. A rather uneventful day, I worked a twelve hour day (see what I mean?) and went home alone, my husband still attentively dedicated to the sheep (I love having the house to myself but after a month or so it's great to have him finally home!). Last Friday, despite being rather ill with a nasty cold, I celebrated said birthday with my in-laws, who very thoughtfully purchased me a Kindle. It's something I never would have invested in for myself. I've had my nose stuck in that thing for three days straight now, every possible extra second I have (which aren't many). Here's my preliminary review:
Why I like a real book better:
1. I can literally drop it on pavement and then pick it back up and read it without feeling like my world may have ended.
2. When I turn the page and see the end of the chapter (and the beginning of the next one) I can quickly slam the book shut and force myself to walk away and get some work done. With the Kindle, by the time I hold the power button for 7 seconds to make the screen go blank, I've already let my eyes stray to the next chapter, and I'm hooked. Oh how I hate those seven seconds.
3. If the industrialized world as we know it ends and our electrical grid fails, I can still read a real book.
4. I can lend a real book to as many friends as I want, and they can keep it as long as they want.
Why I like the Kindle better:
1. If I want to start a new book, I just type in the name and choose "download" and I have it in less than 60 seconds. No more waiting to find a day when I can drive an hour and a half to the nearest book store.
2. I can put this thin, sleek book in my purse, and have enough reading material for an entire vacation. No more choosing which three or four books to bring along with me and finding space for them, just to decide half way through my vacation I brought the wrong ones.
3. The books cost less.
4. I can read the first chapter or two of a book for free to see if I'm going to like it. I suppose I could go to the bookstore and do this... but I'd spend days in the bookstore reading the first chapter of every book I saw, and I'd never settle on any of them. With the Kindle, I can take the samples with me wherever I go, and read them as I have time.
So after all that, I'm really happy with my Kindle, and it's given me a small escape from my hectic work life. Even if I have only five free minutes, I can slip away to Australia and follow 19 year old Ed Kennedy as he thwarts a bank robbery rather by accident (I Am the Messenger) or try to understand a world quite unlike our own in A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, or learn the truth about Abraham Lincoln - the Vampire Slayer.
I'm thinking though, that I might go out and buy one last "real" book.... just in case that Zombie Apocalypse ever happens.
While I'm on the topic of books, I have something else I'd like to put out there. I seem to have found a hangup of mine I wasn't fully aware of before now:
I cannot (seriously, can't imagine trying to force myself) both read the book AND see the movie. I first started to become aware of this after reading The Time Travelers Wife. Shortly after finishing the book, I saw a movie preview. It looked great, then I heard the title. 'Oh no... they made it into a movie!?!?' I decided not to go see it. The book was hard to read at first, but after starting it a few times and sticking with it, I enjoyed having read it. I couldn't imagine the movie holding up. So I opted out.
But now I've come across a real dilemma... The Hunger Games. A trilogy. Everyone's talking about them. I saw the first movie preview and wanted to go see it... but then I found out it's a book series. And everyone is RAVING about the books. And suddenly I realized it... I have a deep seated need to choose between the two. Not like a "will I read the books first or watch the movies first?" or a "gee I wonder which is better"... it's this voice in my head saying "Make the right choice... you're going to miss out on one of the two, make sure you don't regret it". And I'm paralyzed. The books are at the top of my reading wish list, but I can't bring myself to purchase them... what if I want to go see the movies? It's tearing me apart... and I have no idea why. Why can't I just do both?? Compare them? It'll be a great discussion topic. But no... choose I must.
I'd like to say just one last thing on the topic of books - if my childhood best friend Laura Brautigam's (now Laura Lee Anderson) book isn't published and made available on my Kindle, I'm going to throw a fit. A two-year-old-in-a-super-market-who-can't-have-cookies fit.
That's my life!
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