Travel size Pillowcase

Sewing. It's not my favorite hobby. I never really got any lessons, so it's sort of daunting in my opinion. I have a machine, but when it comes to sewing a straight line...you can bet it's going to be crooked.

Hubby bought a travel pillow for when he has to sleep in his work truck. Stores don't carry travel size pillowcases, or if they do, we didn't see any. That's alright. How hard could a small pillowcase be?

So folding the material to about the pillow size, I folded the seams over, sewed them, and viola. A small travel sized pillowcase.

This is the end result.

The pillow fits and all ends well.

DIY Greenhouse

Flower bed with spinach

Building a greenhouse for the winter season.

Winter is here. Well, maybe it's officially fall, but today felt like a regular Bakersfield winter day. Today's goal was to get the old plants out of the garden. Why you might ask? Tuesday morning we had frost. That's right. That detrimental layer of thin ice all over the world. Or just our area.

Luckily, last weekend, I recruited hubby to help me build a small greenhouse for my spinach. The broccoli is planted somewhere else, so I decided to just leave them where they were and cover them. More on that later.

Scrap lumber

For my super awesome greenhouse, it took a few scraps of lumber that we had laying around, a plastic sheet/cover, and staples. I guess I should add a table saw and nail gun attached to the air compressor.

Table Saw

Using the table saw was actually pretty easy. Just lay the board down and slide. All I really had to do was watch to make sure my fingers stayed attached. Extremely easy to use. Any man or woman can use one. No excuses for me to build furniture now!

The kids with our new mini greenhouse

It was nothing fancy, just time consuming. This is the frame of the greenhouse. Basically, just a box with an angled roof. If I went to Lowe's, I could have made a door on the roof, but I didn't want to make a special trip.

How did I get everything to hold together? That's when the nail gun came in handy. This is another tool that I was afraid to use, but it was also easy. Quite fun too. When the kids aren't afraid of the air compressor noise, then they will get to use it. This is how I got the boards to hold together. Hubby stapled every possible angle and the ends of each board.

He also said this lumber isn't pretreated so this greenhouse will probably only last this winter. Next year I will buy either some steel or pretreated lumber.

Make sure you get enough staples to hold it and not near the edge. The wood will splinter near the edge. Also, don't staple wood knots. Below are a couple pictures of what happens... Oops.



 













 And our final greenhouse for the greenhouse. It will house two spinach plants and my potted strawberries. It's not much, but I'm starting small so I can learn.

I used a hand staple gun to adhere the plastic sheet. It might take two people to make sure it's tight. If you can wrap an odd Christmas present, then you'll have no problem wrapping a greenhouse.

Broccoli and Spices before cover

As for the broccoli... They are set in the ground in rows. They aren't real big and after seeing something chewing on their leaves, I had to put some sort of fencing around them. I don't need the tomato cages, but it does remind me to not mow my plants!

I had to buy more plastic sheeting, but for just a quick "greenhouse" cover, I threw plastic sheeting over the tomato cages and held it down with leftover lumber. Luckily, we still had some. The plants are doing much better and with keeping the tomato cages on the broccoli, it gives the plants much more breathing room inside.

Broccoli and Spices with cover

Carseats vs a Good Wash

Bottom of daughter's carseat. ICKY

Carseats vs a Good Wash

Our kids are still in their carseats- only because the government keeps upping the carseat laws. *rolls eyes* Every time we leave our house to go grocery shopping, to the library, to swimming lessons, or a trip out of town, there are always drinks and snacks in our car. My latest great idea to save money is trail mix. Apparently its great for the wallet, but not great for the car.

Those little fingers dig around the little Ziploc for the blue M&Ms first, knocking sunflower seeds right out of the bag into the nooks and crannies of their clothes, seats, and floor. Ugh. So much for a clean car. At least none of it is sticky, right? M&Ms melt and the craisins have some sort of sticky residue on them. In addition to the kid's food droppings, the dog insists on cleaning the seats for me (although he's not suppose to eat chocolate or raisins).

My son, 3, is potty training and has quite a few accidents compared to his sister at this age. I couldn't stand the smell anymore, so I decided to take the carseats in the house and take them apart to clean them. I would also vacuum the darn car since I could finally fold the seats down to vacuum. YAY!

I scrubbed the spots on the carseats with Fels-Naptha. Some spots came out and others...not so much. I've pretty much given up on trying to make their seats look like new. I've scrubbed to my little heart's content and it didn't hardly convince any part of the stain to come out. Oh well.

Elbow grease.

So I threw the fabric part of the car seats in the washer, take the plastic parts out back to hose off and the dog and chickens come running for the food still on the carseats! They quickly learned that the hose is powerful.

That day had been 103 outside. The kids had nothing to do, so I filled a bucket with soap and water, grabbed two brushes, and had the kids scrub their carseats. "This is like going to the carwash!" My daughter exclaimed. They both were so excited to have a "carseat wash" right there in our backyard. Two birds with one stone- awesome! Two thumbs up for mommy.

Carseat Wash! $5.00 Good scrubbing guaranteed!

When the washer finished, I pulled the carseat supplies out one at a time until one of the straps would not budge. I twisted it, pulled it around in circles, and it would not come loose after fifteen minutes of struggling with it.

The tools I used in addition to elbow grease.

Aggravated, I stormed out to the garage, got some of hubby's tools (I think its called a socket wrench), and took apart the washer like my child had been entangled in it. My daughter asked why I was making so much noise. "Mommy is going to win this fight!" She raised an eyebrow and left.

Taking apart the washer was almost easy. It did take some muscle to get these sturdy plastic pieces off and back on. Beware: muscle needed!

The top piece just pops off. Literally.

The second piece just pops off. Sturdy plastic.

This is the screw holding the circular bottom. All held with just one bolt.

I had to not only find the right size, but also the extension socket. Not an easy task. Good thing the garage door is just a door away from the laundry room.

This is the bolt that connects the middle part to the drum

Finally! No wonder I couldn't get it off earlier. It was knotted!

Glad I didn't call a handyman...

Might as well clean it while its out

Putting it back together, I put the bolt in the socket wrench to keep it upright and somewhat straight.

Make sure you have the washer on it

I found it easier to get on if I screwed the washer on before I put it back on. That way I didn't have to worry about the washer not going all the way back on.

I put everything back together in reverse order and viola! I have my wonder washer back! Now back to laundry...

A clean washer ready for the next wash!

Not all the dirt and grime got out of the carseats. Oh well. Good thing no one else sees them! 
 Thanks for reading!

DIY Woman

Don't you mean handyman? Nope. I can do anything if I am motivated enough.

After 3 years of not having the grout finished in our kitchen under the trash can, I decided it needed done. Hubby asked me to clean the grout lines so he could "finish" it several times and I obligingly did so. Only to find out he was "too tired" or had bigger projects to complete. We had to replace these two tiles due to shorter cabinets in our kitchen remodel.

Sitting on the fridge was the small tub of pre-made grout. Awesome. The rest of the tools were in the garage. A grout float/trowel,  large grout sponge (dish sponges will not work), and bucket with water (to rinse out sponge several times).

To be honest, filling in grout was quite easy.

Tools needed

 Take the spade looking tool and scoop the grout out of your bucket like ice cream.

 Fill in grout lines. Make sure you fill them in well and overfilling is good to do. Just watch out for air bubbles.

This is what you'll end up with after you get your grout in your grout lines. Seriously easy.

 I couldn't touch my camera after this step. Sorry! Take the grout trowel and swipe it sideways at a 45 degree angle. This helps push the grout down and get the air bubbles out. Don't worry about getting the middle of the tiles dirty. This will be cleaned off with your sponge in a few hours.

Wait a few hours (many people say 12-24 hours). I let mine sit for 3-4 hours. I'm very impatient- I wanted it done! You might as well move onto another project for the time being. Me? Laundry is always a huge project in my house.

Since I know you waited your proper length of time, all you have to do is take your sponge and wipe in circles on top of the grout. You will need to rinse your sponge and possibly refill your bucket several times. I had to since my bucket was so small.

After sponging your tiles and grout to the perfected level, stand back and admire your hard work. I know I did!

My phone doesn't take the best pics. This picture was taken one week after I filled in the grout.

Aren't my grout skills magnificent? See- I really can do anything if I put my mind to it. What's next?

I realize the kids could have helped with this project, but I needed to learn how to do it first.  They will definitely help next time!

Homesteading. Is it worth it?

Homesteading. Some think it’s a day's long list of chores on a plot of land. Others see it as a way to avoid any communication with the retail grocery stores. Me? I’m just trying to provide for my family. I want to be able to provide the best for them. What do you get at the grocery store? A ton of processed, preservative filled food. Crackers, juice, canned vegetables- you get the idea. Now I don’t plan on raising my own cattle or pigs, but I do plan on raising chickens. If you don’t have one, you should. Not only do they eat leftover food, they also provide eggs without the rooster (and I enjoy watching them). Currently, we don’t have a homestead thing going on, but hopefully soon.

Currently, we purchase our groceries at the Farmer's Market. This way I know hubby's hard earned money goes back into the community -local farmers. They work so hard to produce a quality item that benefits you and them. I do admit there are some items we can't get at the farmer's market that we will buy from Sam's or Costco since their organic doesn't cost an arm or leg like the typical grocery store. For household items, we will buy after realizing we can't DIY it. I know it sounds cheap and crazy to try making your own pillowcase or tiling the floor, but we are on a fixed income (halfway to becoming senior citizens).

One time at Sam's, hubby (not quite 100% on board with my new plant-based diet or saving as much as we really can) bought an 8pk of canned peas, 8pk of canned corn, and 12pk of green beans. All because he can just open it and heat it quickly. That added up to over $20. $20.00! Each canned item is full of salt, laden with pesticides, and will last through another ten years. If I have to purchase canned vegetables, I'll buy the salt free canned vegetables or frozen, but only sparingly if I can't get it at my farmer's market. I could have grown these vegetables and saved plus grow triple that amount! All for convenience. I looked at the canned peas ingredients. They actually put sugar in their canned sweet peas. They have absolutely no taste, not even a slightly sweet one.

So the true question is this new urban homesteading phase worth it? There will be a higher water consumption for our household, but I know I won't be using any pesticides or insecticides on my mini farm. I will have more flying insects around to pollinate the plants, but the chickens will eat the crawling ones. I will have to learn how to organize our produce and properly can, freeze, and preserve, but we will save money in the end. I, as well as hundreds of others, think homesteading is worth it.

The initial start-up cost will be a few seeds, egg cartons (seed starting trays), plastic wrap (keep moisture in), and tomato cages. Plus the water. I will have to install a sprinkler system, but a hose or my yard's sprinkler system is just fine for now. I don't plan on building a greenhouse. It's not in our budget. It might be later, but we have to start small and save what we can. I don't work, so this will be my "job" to provide fresh produce for our family.

Homesteading takes planning and commitment. We are able to start a winter garden here soon, but I haven't quite planned that yet since we are waiting to find out some news about hubby's career. We are praying he transfers to Sac although I really do love the Bako Depot. I think homesteading will be worth it, not only for me, but also for my family. This way, I'll be able to find what I need when I need to- unlike the grocery and department stores. My produce will be original, unlike the orange crunchy "tomatoes" imported from Mexico year round. My kids will learn what it is like to grow and do instead of shop and depend on others for food (sounds like a homeless or welfare person). Plus, if I fill my yard with growing produce, I can sell the extra (if I want to) and have less lawn to mow (sounds like a win-win).
Do you homestead? What do you think?