Nature Study in the Ghetto, snails

Last night we went on an after dinner walk. Here in South Texas we have already entered that part of the year when the ONLY time you can take a walk outside is very early morning or late evening. But it has been raining a lot this week and it was particularly nice. My keen eyed daughter spotted the first one and found eight more. Miss A was willing to sacrifice her little bag to carry the snails while we finished our walk. Temporarily we are keeping them in an aquarium which we quickly set up with dirt, grass, sticks and potato peels. (See I knew I had a reason to keep that aquarium). I don't know what we plan to do with them other than the snail races, but I let the kids know we could eat them. They seem unconvinced. Any other ideas?
(I have 3 more good snail pics I wanted to add but can't seem to get them to upload)
(ok, scratch that - I was able to get them on one at a time. Boy is that a pain!)

Simple make-up

So I have been interested in using more natural facial products because of my ongoing battle with acne. (Now I actually think there may be a food sensitivity component to it but that is for another post). Another blog I really enjoy reading is www.passionatehomemaking.com
and she detailed two lines of mineral makeup, one she had used and one she had not tried yet. I went with the latter because there were fewer ingredients in making it and there was a great sample kit. After I got my sampls and started using them I was hooked. I already had a good line of brushes so I didn't purchase theirs but you should definietly get a good brush set if you are going to use only mineral make-up. I was not so impressed with their chapstick however. I didn't like the two colors I picked out and that is hard to pick out colors without being able to actually see it in person. As far as the powders go the samples are great buys and I have been able to use a little mixing to get better colors from the ones that weren't exactly right. I think that is actually one of the best assets of this type of make-up that you can mix a little of this and a little of that to really get a good color for your skin. My skin is also sensitive and I have not had any problems with this line. The other line has had some people complain about a slight burning sensation when they use it. I had recommended this brand to a friend of mine and she ended up going with the other brand. After using it a bit she offered to give it to me because it burned her skin. No, thank you! Another reason I didn't even want to try theirs. I still use reguloar ol' mascara. I am sure I can find some horrifying article about what terrible things are in it but I just can't spend $20 on one tube of mascara. Maybe I will one day but I am just not there yet. I do still have a few other items in my make-up drawer until I use them up. But I do enjoy how quickly I can just pack up a few items and be ready to travel.
Go to www.everydayminerals.com and click on Try Me Free
Here is the sample details "Everyday Minerals invites you to TRY our most popular colors & find your perfect foundation! These kits are a wonderful value at $5 each! And you can add ONE to your cart absolutely FREE with every order, anytime! So play with new colors, treat yourself to a gift, and come back for more!!! There are so many choices, so please take your time and enjoy our super generous sample sizes! Discount applies during checkout."
I should also add that I have had this make-up now for almost a year. After I bought my first sample sizes and picked my favorite colors I ordered again and got the larger sizes. So for a grand total of about $35 I have a year (or more) supply of make-up. Not too shabby.

Frugalities

Are you frugal enough for the frugal club?
Well I certainly consider myself to be frugal. I am certainly more frugal than many people. And I am not as frugal as some. I marvel at people who will pay $10.00 a gallon for raw milk and consider themselves to be frugal. Soooo.... let me get this straight. They do less to the milk and charge you more for it? I don't get it. I think it would make a lot more sense if it was like a pick-your-own farm. You go milk the cow and then get the gallon for $1-$2. Yeah, it's supposed to be better for you but I am not entirely convinced of that. Plus, my husband, who grew up on a dairy farm and drank raw milk his entire childhood, just gags thinking about it so it's really not an option for us anyway. But also there are the people who email me about how much everything costs and bemoaning the increase of gas and food prices and they just don't know how they're going to make it. They send the email from their iphone. Or the family on foodstamps who barely make ends meet and yet their pantry is perpetually full of absolute junk food. I don't get it. One lady complained to me about how her car was "so old it has a cd player AND a tape deck".
I answered that my car has only a tape deck. I could have further added that it has over 100,000 miles on it, roll down windows (which I actually happen to like) and the tape deck/radio doesn't even work. I don't think she would have got it. I make my own laundry soap and I reuse all sorts of things that would (should?) go in the trash.
BUT....... I buy shredded cheese (gasp!)
Yeah, I do. I don't like to shred cheese. It takes a long time. It's messy. I like my knuckles to be intact. I don't see what the big deal is to pay $1.00 more for the cheese to be shredded. It's worth it to me.
I also buy boneless skinless chicken breasts (gasp!)
Yeah, I do. I don't like to cut up raw chicken. I want to touch it as little as possible. When I have bought a whole raw chicken and cut it up, it looked like the victim of some awful crime. Trust me, it wasn't pretty little legs, quarters, wings and breasts. The nasty foam that boiled up in the pot made me want to gag. I don't like to do it. Yes, the price is much higher. But it's worth it to me.
I also turn up my nose at store made brownies, cupcakes or cookies. How can you possibly pass that off as dessert? Blech! I like the homemade stuff - it's worth it to me.
So I guess that is what it comes down to. What's it worth to you?
(This is what Clyde the Beagle thinks about paying for grated cheese and boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

Sleep Talkin Princess

Mostly she says unintelligible things. Or she shouts to her brother to "Stop it!", "Get out of my ROOOOOMMMMMM!!!!", "Stop it!!!!!"
But occasionally she says things like "I have two. I have two legs." and "I have a green one at home. It looks just like it."
These are only the ones that I hear after she crawls into bed with us and I am awake enough to remember. Perhaps I should start recording her?

Why is this the Ghetto?

Well I suppose technically it's not. We live in a very inner-city neighborhood. The kind of neighborhood who either everyone knows about because they "used" to live here or never heard of because they don't drive this far into the city. We hear ambulances and fire trucks screeching by about 5 times a week. Fourth of July and New Year's Eve are very festive around here. When a certain NBA team wins the National Championship (again) it's also very festive. The car honking and yelling last past midnight and people just walk around right in the middle of the street. Guys wearing white wife beaters with baggy khaki pants walk around the park with their pit bulls. There are car accidents at the corner all the time because for some reason that pesky telephone pole is just in the wrong place. When you hear the tires squeal and the crash you go outside to see if everyone is ok. But when you hear CRACK, CRACK, CRACK and then the tires squeal you don't go outside. We have our choice of several bus routes all within easy walking distance. The "bad side of town" YMCA is only two miles from our house. The only year we signed our daughter up for soccer there, a fight broke out on the next field over. Yup, apparently 3 year olds playing soccer inspired the fight. Trash blows around in our yard all the time. Occasionally it's because the dog knocked over the trash can but usually it's just the usual trash that's blowing around. Once when we were picking up the trash we found a driver's license and some other cards belonging to a lady whose purse had been stolen. Apparently the thief ditched the unwanted cards in our bush as they were driving by. She was glad to get those cards back.
BUT, our neighborhood is a Conservation District just a few blocks down from a Historic District (where the house price easily jumps up 100,000 or more). This was a ritzy neighborhood 50 years ago and there are rumors it is going to see a renaissance. There are lovely tree-lined streets because the trees have had time to grow. Every house looks different (no box houses as we like to call them). Except for some duplexes behind us only one family has moved into the neighborhood since we did 6 years ago. There are houses for sale but none are sitting empty. We know our neighbors. Once when our dog got in a fight with the neighbor dog a neighbor from across the street came over to help us. During a hot summer drought we spotted a grass fire across the street and my husband ran over and quickly stomped it out. There are young couples, elderly people, families with kids, retired folks. A bat colony has a home around here somewhere. An old fat skunk has been smart enough to find a good home (and plenty of food) for himself without being much of a pest. We have a pair of cardinals that make our backyard home and someone even has a rooster although I haven't figured out which house it is yet (I've got it narrowed down to four). When we were buying our house we had a few people tell us we were making a mistake. "You're going to buy a house there?" But we have been here 6 years now and overall we like it. So what do you think? Is this the ghetto? Well.....

mmmm soap!

OK, so I made toothsoap. Yes that's right I said soap. If you are brave enough to try it here is the recipe. I have found it to taste a wee bit soapy - but really it is not that bad. Perhaps the recipe needs some tweaking.

5 TBSP coconut oil (solid below 76F, so ours is always liquid)
1 TBSP Dr Bronner's castile soap (I used peppermint but you can also use baby which has no scent)
Orange essential oil
Peppermint esential oil (if you didn't use peppermint soap)
Water (1 TBSP or more as needed)
Natural sugar substitute (I used purevia)

Mix all the ingredients together. Add in a little water at a time until it is the right consistency for toothpaste. It will be a little runny. I did not need to use the water since in our house the coconut oil is liquid (we keep our thermostat set at 80 in the summer). But I may have to add some in the winter. I used about 25 drops of the orange essential oil. Add in the sugar sub until it tastes ok. I ended up using 4 individual sticks of the purevia. Don't taste it too many times in a row or it will burn your mouth. Put it in a clean soap dispenser or a small plastic squirt bottle.
There it is.
Clean your teeth with no fluoride and no sodium lauryl sulfate. Or you could just use baking soda :o)

Watch where you're looking!

A few weeks ago my daughter told me to "watch where you're looking". I chuckled a little because I know she meant to say "watch where you're going" But after I thought about it a little bit I think what she actually said is better advice. Yes, we should all watch where we're looking. When I am looking at my sweet child's face am I thinking about the grocery list, or the dishes in the sink, or the pile of projects that gets bigger and bigger? When I read her a story am I just thinking how quickly I can get done so I can move on to the next chore on my list? I am so guilty of not watching where I'm looking. In these days that I am trying to be productive, get projects done, find ways to save money and check off my whole checklist for the day I don't want to miss the moments flying by. I am trying. Please God, help me to watch where I am looking. Help me to burn the ordinary extraordinary in my memories and see you in everything.