Pintrest, the Bathroom, and Borax

So I have noticed that we have outrageously hard water... It is so hard it leaves this super nasty coppery ring in the tub and the toilet, more so since we have stopped using bleach cleaners. So I went a pinning.

I saw this pin a few weeks ago and have wanted to try it.

Magic Eraser uses... did you know you can cut a piece off and float it in your toilet overnight and voila! no more toilet ring! The website has a list of about 100 uses! Pin now, read later ;)

I have used the "magic eraser" before, and I think it ain't that magic... They usually disintegrate before I am finished with what ever I am doing. So just throwing one in the toilet... I have got to try this.

By they way, we tried it last night... still got that toilet ring...

I also found an overwhelming pins on how to really clean that toilet.

Most of which talk about using BORAX...

I am not afraid of Borax, cautious, yes! I use it in my laundry soap, and don't think too much about using it there. But for cleaning surfaces in my home... I don't know about that. I am currently reading up on it and going to see what I find. More on that later.

Milk

Thank you all who took the How Crunch Are You Quiz! It was great to sit down and read your comments.

Also, a reader pointed out an interesting source: http://whereismymilkfrom.com

So I checked it out, and checked out the milk we buy to see where it is from.

On the site, you can enter in the "dairy code" printed on your milk carton. Then up pops the plant your milk comes from.

Now, I know that Darigold is my local (60 miles is local, right...) dairy, but they do not have milk that is organic. (One day I will post why it is so important to me to buy organic milk.) So since, I am not buying local, I go for the cheapest, which is Stremicks Heritage Organic Milk.

So I thought I look it up... Santa Ana, California... South of LA... WOW! That is over 1,000 miles from where we live. Another brand is about 20 cents more, (and at a different, non-employee owned grocer) is The O Organics brand. I might have to look and see if it is closer... Honestly, I think it is probably still from California.

How Crunchy are You?

So I am not sure what to talk about today, so I thought I would look and CrunchyBetty for some ideas... While I was at it, I decided to look up what 'Crunchy' means. It is something have wondered about, and thought it was interesting enough to talk about.

Crunchy: Sometimes, crunchy granola . Informal . health-conscious and environmentally aware: one of those crunchy guys whoinsists on biking to work.
From Dictionary.com

Hun... So health-conscious and environmentally aware... I guess I am 'crunchy' then. But how 'crunchy' is 'crunchy'?

I did a google search, and found some interesting quizzes, some were good, others I thought we way crazy. So I decided to combined them all and make our own.

These are all yes no questions, 1 point for a yes, 0 for no. (If you have yet to do something, like breastfeed, then put what you would most likely do.)

Do you/would you?

Children:

Breastfeed

Tandem nurse/ nurse while pregnant

Child-led wean

Baby wear/use a sling/soft carrier like the Moby

Clothing Diaper

Co-sleep

Avoid plastic toys/battery-operated toys

Homebirth/alternative birth (I.E. Not a drugged hospital birth.) (If was/is a goal but circumstances prevent it give yourself a point)

observe your fertility signals using Natural Family Planning/Fertility Awareness and use that for birth control/trying to conceive

Homeschool

Household:

Avoid plastics

Natural cleaning products

Organic produce

Organic/grass feed meats

Vegan for environmental impact (not allergies)

Car-free/hybrid/one-car family

Compost/garden

Buy local milk

Use reusable grocery bags

Herbal/homeopathic remedies

Recycle (as much as your area allows)

Bike or walk to work/school/store 2+ times a week

Making food from scratch (little to no ‘boxed’ meals)

You:

Reusable hygiene (things like the Diva Cup)

Natural soaps/no ‘poo

Score:

20-25: Super Crunchy

15-19: Crunchy

10-14: Granola sprinkles

5-9: Oatmeal

0-4: Boxed dinner

Here is my score: 17-Crunchy.

How do you score?

Would you add anything?

What changes have you made or want to make to be more 'crunchy'?

Links, if you would like to see the original quizzes.
http://www.pistachioproject.com/2012/08/how-crunchy-are-you.html
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/198862.page
http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-crunchy-are-you
http://www.justmommies.com/forums/f341-home-birth/539400-how-crunchy-you.html
http://green.yourway.net/question-of-the-day-how-crunchy-are-you/
http://themoralesfamily.us/granola.htm

Getting back into the swing of life.

Fall is almost here, and it is my favorite time of year. But we still have a week of summer...

Things are slowly getting back to normal, but it is taking its sweet time and lots of hard work. The status of my house will attest to this fact...

My little sister came to visit for a few days, and little does she know, but she is getting put to work tonight. Along with a couple of new green cleaners; my kitchen, stove, and oven will be clean and you will get to hear about the good, bad and ugly parts of these new cleaners.

I want to throw in a new little segment on "Emergency Preparedness". Nothing crazy, like how to store a 100+ lbs of beans so you can feed your neighbor hood. Things like what to keep in your car for winter, or what is a 72-hour kit. Simple basic things. So look for that AFTER we finish the car series, which is coming...

Recipe: Navy Bean Soup

This is our third and final recipe in the bean series! And is one of my FAVORITES! We will by a ham just so I can make this! It is also our traditional day after Christmas dinner. It is super easy and goes great with any left over rolls you might have from a ham dinner the night before. (Sorry, no pictures.)

Navy Bean Soup

1 lbs Dried, Navy Beans
1 Meaty Ham Bone
Salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse the beans and remove any rocks. In a large stock pot, cover beans with 2-3 inches of water and add 1-2 TBSP of SALT, cover and soak overnight in the refrigerator. Drain, DO NOT RINSE. Return to pot covering again with 2-3 inches of water, and add the ham bone. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 3 hours until the meat falls of the bone and the beans had popped their skins and mostly turned to mush.

Serves: 6 to 8

I made this once for a friend with celiac's and she LOVED it! Got to love beans for being gluten free.

*If you want this to be 100% gluten free, make sure your ham is too! Sometimes those wonderful glazes are made with flour!*

As always, a link to a printable page.

Take a moment

Today, while you are going about your daily happenings, take a moment to pause and remember.

Remember

All that you Have

Your Freedom to chose

Your choice to Vote

Your Government, the good and the bad

Your Family

Your Friends

What being an American means to You

If you have the chance, take a moment to Thank ALL Those who serve, have served, or will serve in our nation's military protecting your freedoms given to you by living here in this Nation.

Homemaking Tuesday: Showers and Oranges

Showers and oranges do not go together, normally... Today, I have some news on the the Shower Experiment, and another more fragrant experiment.

The Shower Experiment, after under going a MAJOR set back last month is up and running! The not-so-watertight-watertight-picture frames failed to work, it took me some time to get to the dollar store and get mirrors. Also, those soap holder things were tossed, I kept running into them and they had sharp edges!

Not going to work...

 I am not telling you what the sprays are until the experiment is over, but I chose them because they were made of basic household items. So far, two weeks in I can't really see a difference.

Moving on to Oranges, I have been eating a LOT of oranges. And the other day after eating 4 or 5 I thought there has got to be something I can do with these orange peels. You can not throw that many orange peels into a worm box (we learned this the hard way, remember the fruit fly post...), so I had just been tossing them. I looked on Pintrest, which is kind of becoming the new Google... And I found a couple of orange fragrant cleaners.

I decided to give Orange Infused Vinegar a try and see if it masks the vinegar smell. There was a couple different ways to do this, so I went with the easiest. If it works, I will share that. In the mean time it has to sit and infuse for 2-4 weeks!

Under Construction

This has been quite the summer for us, and things are still happening.

I thought I would take a moment to talk a little about why Engineering Homemaking was founded.

Engineering Homemaking was this idea floating around for awhile, and has morphed a couple of times. It started as a why for me to just post my crafty things, then to a blog about everything that I hate, to a blog about food, to this. Kind of a mix of it all. I was looking for an outlet to deal with some personal issues.

Wonderful Man and I have been married a little over 3 years, and were told about a year and a half ago were told we have a never low chance of conceiving our own children, unexplained infertility. After taking some time to understand what unexplained infertility is, I learned that I had some friends who were going through  similar, if not the same thing.

Talking to them, learning with them, crying with them, teaching them, really helped me to grow and accept this challenge. I started to stare this challenge down, knowing that one day I could beat it.

I slowly started to change little things around our house, switching to natural cleaners, limiting plastics, limiting chemicals I put into my body, and using more whole foods (not eating a bunch of pre-prepare stuff). I was actively working out, a lot, and had finally started to lose some weight that I had been trying to lose for years.

I decided I wanted to share all of this with the world, maybe some out there was interested in green cleaning. It turns out there is 11 of you! I know there is more, I just don't know how to grab them.

So I started Engineering Homemaking in November, nothing fancy, just some posts about things I was trying of pinterst. Then I did an experiment on yeast in February, and it hit me just want I wanted to do with this blog. Of course it is still under construction, but there is something bigger going on behind the scenes.

This summer started out fairly normal for us, Wonderful started taking summer classes, I was doing my same old same old, and then we got a very unexpected, yet very welcome surprise.

Then our summer went down hill; two deaths in the family, and as always with my family, drama attacked.

School has started back up again, and we are mostly back to normal. We are very excited to welcome our long awaited little one in February (or early March). We are trying to enjoy all the craziness that come with pregnancy.

This isn't going to turn into a look at me and my bump/everything I have gotten for baby blog, that is what my family blog is for. Engineering Homemaking's focus is going to stay the same, so don't you worry!

The Farmer's Market

This post, is one I have been meaning to write for about a month now. Which means, even though I went to the Farmer's Market last Saturday, these pictures are a month old...

I love my local Farmer's Market. The city of Pullman, has one, but it is no where as good as the one 8 miles away in Moscow, Id.

Donut Peaches

Donut Nectarines

One thing about shopping farmer markets it that you need to be open to try new things. I had never heard of donut nectarines (yes that is spelled right, I checked!) I got some to try and other than being smaller than normal nectarines, they had a smaller pit. This made them easier to eat.

APPLES!

 This are a Moscow treat! The family that grows them is one of the few grower of this type of apple! I look forward to a few every year, they have a very short growing season.

Don't forget veggies! Green beans on top and lemon cucumber beneath.

Nectarines, apricots, peaches

There is always a street performer or two. We always give them some cash!

Berries

You can always find interesting things at these markets, like this hanging plant.

There is always food vendors, our favorites, Mini Doughnuts, and  Patty's Kitchen

Patty's Kitchen's booth

Homemade jams

Homemade soaps

Shopping Farmer Markets involves fluidity. Some vendor might not always have what you want. Due to growing conditions, some things might have very short seasons. 

My number one tip for shopping markets like these, DO NOT TAKE A LIST! I go, get what vegetables and fruits I want and then make my menu and grocery list for the week.

Young musicians

 

It doesn't matter the bass is twice my height!

 There are even a few 'main stage' performers, this was a local blue grass group composed of young musicians and their instructor. It was great to listen to such talented young people.

From Brown and Boring to...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

During:

 

 

Fabulous!

Recipe: Confetti Beans

I know this has been a long time coming, but I finally got the chance to make dinner the other night. (Well, start making... I forgot about a meeting I had. Wonderful Man finished for us!)

This recipe, Confetti Beans, is the perfection of another recipe that I had and like, but knew it needed more. The best part of this recipe is that it is naturally gluten and milk protein free! Which is a plus for any recipe. If you aren't a meat eater, no worries, just don't use bacon and use a TBSP of olive oil.

Confetti Beans

3 strips of Bacon

1 Onion, chopped

3 ribs, chopped Celery

3 cloves Garlic, crushed and rough chopped

1 Red Pepper, small, Chopped

1 Green Pepper, small, chopped

1 Yellow Pepper,small, chopped

1 tsp thyme, crushed

1 ½ cup cooked Red Kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 can)

1 ½ cup diced Tomatoes

2 cups cooked Brown Rice

salt and pepper to taste

Don't judge the cans, my crock pot lid broke...

I like my veggies chopped coarsely. 

Cook bacon until crispy, set aside to cool, reserving 1-2 TBSP of the fat.

Saute the onions and celery in the fat until soft, and starting to turn golden. Add the Garlic, peppers, and Thyme. Cook stirring for two minutes, add the kidney beans and tomatoes. Cover and simmer until most of the liquid is reduced.

Serve over warm brown rice.

Serves 6

As always, a link to a printable page.

Homemaking Tuesday: Service Auction

My church has a monthly activity for the women, and this months is a get to know you service auction. They have done this in the past, and honestly I thought it was lame. That and put a bunch of women in the same room, all wanting the same 'service' (most people 'auctioned' free babysitting) and no matter how religious those women might be feelings are going to get hurt. My experience was, that even though I 'bought' X-service the ladies I bought it from never fulfilled their commitment. It still bothers me.

So this year, I decided that I really don't need anyone's service but I am a nice person so I am going to auction off something to advertise this blog! Which is why I came up with those labels last week, I need to label the all-purpose spray I am putting in the basket.

It has taken me a couple weeks to figure out what I want in the basket. I want it to be 'cheap', I only want to spend $5 tops putting it together. I also want it to be about cleaning supplies you can make with only basic items at home. Lastly, I of course want it to be green!

Here is what I have decided for the basket:

1) All-purpose cleaning spray. Easy to make, and you only need water and vinegar.
2) A handmade washcloth.
3) A handmade scrubbie, safe for use on stainless steal. (Can be used on most surfaces, but NOT recommended for use on painted surfaces)
4) Baking Soda scrub. I love just using baking soda as a scouring scrub, and it works great!
5) Baking Soda and Vinegar. New bottles for making more spray and for refilling the baking soda scrub container.
6) Recipes! I have a few cleaner recipes, that I haven't had the chance to tell you about here, and plan on doing that soon. I am going to include those in the basket.

I have been meaning to put together this basket all week, but I hadn't the chance to go to the dollar store until this morning. So here is the finished basket, ready for Thursday!

*I had to get a couple of things from the store for this; gloves, spray bottle, vinegar, shaker, and baking soda. It came to a grand total of $5.97. A dollar over, but still not bad!*