A Miracle of the Floor Covering Variety

I had given up all hope. A toxic, permanent mixture of dog drool, black enamel paint, and rust congealed and set in my carpet months ago.  It was an unfortunate era before Gracie's Prozac took effect.  (Yes, my dog is on Prozac. I like my house being in the condition I left it when I return from work...or taking the garbage out to the dumpster.)

This mess made an unsightly rectangle the exact shape of her dog crate in my bedroom.  I put a rug over it and have tried to ignore it. But like all the haunting evil characters in those horror films, it refused to leave me.

Every commercial product I have ever tried failed. Usually only succeeded in making the carpet wet, me sneeze, and Gracie displeased with the smell.  Then I tried the ammonia option. It helped. Did not cure the problem

Enter carpet cleaner option 2 - a simple, oh so simple solution. Literally.  Found all over the walls of the Internet and boards of Pinterest. Simply take one part blue Dawn dish detergent and one part hydrogen peroxide. Put in a bottle. Shake. Spray.  I only have towels (I don't like the ideas of germs hanging around sponges). So I took a damp folded towel and worked the solution into the carpet. I let it sit for 60 seconds. Then I sopped up the solution with another clean, damp towel.

The result was so exciting I had to call my mother. My mom and I don't get excited over most Suzy-homemaker issues, but we had a 10 minute conversation over the wonder of blue Dawn.

All that is left of the nasty, black and rust stains on my carpet are hints of the rust in the worst places. I suspect a second treatment will help the situation. I am getting rid of all other cleaners.

Now my hands are a bit dry from all that soap so I am off to get some of the lotion I will be posting about later this week!

Broccoli Salad

I love broccoli salads. However, since going vegetarian, most are not my cup of tea as they involve the freakishly popular ingredient - bacon.

After searching through allrecipes.com, I finally came across this one. I swapped dried cranberries for raisins as I prefer them to raisins. Next time I may do what various comments suggested and blanch the broccoli. However, it is quite tasty and improves with (reasonable) time in the fridge.

Zucchini Pie

What you put in yourself is just as important as what you surround yourself with. Thus, I'm going to use the weekends to highlight some of the recipes I've fallen in love with that you might find helpful or interesting.

Here's one that is perfect for those zucchinis that seem to take over farmers markets and gardens this time of year.

I found it on allrecipes.com.  I made it as described, just put it into a cake pan as my pie tins have disappeared.

Next time I will probably swap the tomatoes for some red or green peppers. I'm not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes unless they are doctored up into a killer marinara sauce. I want to keep something with color in there though, so the peppers are the most likely choice. The fresh corn was fantastic. Out of season, I might consider frozen or canned corn, but it wouldn't be as tasty.

It reheats wonderfully. Since I am enjoying it at least once a day, I haven't frozen it. However, I suspect it will freeze well and thus make a great thing to pull out for meals at work.

Here's the link to the recipe. Enjoy!

Lotion Bars I

Lotion "Ice Cubes"

There are several lotion bar recipes out there. I plan to try several on my quest for the perfect lotion.

The first one I tried was also one of the simplest options.  I found it on the blog, My Yellow Umbrella.  This was the first lotion product I tried, so I had to round up the necessary items. I picked up the beeswax at Hobby Lobby.  I forgot to grab a mold, so I hunted for silicone forms at Target and Meijer's. I was unsuccessful at Target. At Meijer's I found ice cube trays. Not the most exciting option, but since I am giving the lotion bars to people to test, it is a good size.

I decided to use lavender oil as I love the scent and it can be relaxing.

With the warning of the beeswax sparking in the microwave, I used a Pyrex glass measuring cup immersed in a pan of water. It worked like a charm. Plus it made it easy to pour into the molds.
It looks quite unappealing in the ice cube tray. However, the cooled and then were very easy to remove. You can see from the photo at the top of the post how they turned out.

The lotion is very moisturizing. However, it does leave a layer of oil residue on your hands for some time afterwards, particularly if you apply too much. I found if I used it sparingly it worked much better. The lavender smelled wonderful and was not too overpowering.

I like the end result, but I'm not in love with it. I will say this, I am incredibly picky about lotion. There is only one lotion I like that is commercially produced. The others annoy me for one reason or another. Thus, the quest to find the ideal homemade natural lotion may be a lengthy one for me.

Summer Feet

One of the hazards of my job is the wear and tear on various items (ie - sandals, backpacks, and those poor now torn jeans). Service trips and the World Youth Day pilgrimages usually result in some things never quite being the same. Then there's the effect on me. Besides the usual exhaustion, there's the lesser issues. The one that is really not that big of a deal that bugs me is how dry my feet get. Particularly after World Youth Day in Madrid last year.  I wish I would have done a bit of searching the  web last summer.

Several versions of this exist. Since I improvised a few things, here's my version of the Epsom Salt Foot Soak.

I got a nice clean bucket. Filled it up with several inches of hot water, the hottest I could stand. Then I tossed in a healthy handful of Epsom and stirred with my hand. I hauled it over to the sofa where I had also put an extra bath towel, the great body butter I got from my sister-in-law, and those socks that are supposed to help with dry feet.

I soaked my feet until the water was cook, about 30 minutes. Since I was multitasking, time flew by. I dried my feet, used one of those pumice stones, put on the body butter, and slipped on the socks. I did this after dinner, so I just kept the socks on until I went to sleep. I have done this a couple of nights now and my feet look and feel so much better.

As I said, there are many versions, so you can search for what works for you. I gleaned from the four or five I found to make the above version.

(No pictures for this. My feet are not something I feel like posting to the web and do you really need a photo of water in a bucket?)

Simple Room Refresher

Here's one I am a bit ambivalent about.

The concept is easy. I found the recipe on The Burlap Bag blog. As I had all the things needed on hand and a stinky dog, I figured I could put it to use immediately.

The baking soda works. That's a given. However, I do not think it is worth putting essential oils in the baking soda. I couldn't smell the lavender I used at all. As essential oils are not cheap and they make a more significant difference in other projects to come, I'll conserve it for those.

I'm going with a 7 star award on this one. The deodorizing effect of baking soda is valid, but the essential oil seems to me to not be worth the cost.

Glass Cleaner

Again, we have a simple recipe with everyday ingredients.  However, I was skeptical that something that resembled watered down milk could clean my glass. 

The acid test was what I like to refer to as "Gracie's Art." These charming, surrealist images are created with her little doggie nose on any glass surface she can reach (approximately 6-18 inches from the floor). Thus I have the canine equivalent of the Louvre on my patio windows and a small, cutting edge installation on the mirrored doors to the coat closet by my door.  Any glass cleaner has to cut through that and not leave a streak.

Again, the recipe for this came from The Everything Soap Blog. 

I tossed the ingredients into a bottle in less time than it took to dig out the corn starch from the back of my cupboard.  I have a small kitchen, but I love to cook. Thus I have more things packed into the few cabinets and drawer than I would think possible. Thanks to endless hours of playing Tetris on road trips as a kid and my dad's lessons on packing, I can make the feat work.

Taking my runny milky mixture to the mirrored entry way doors, I started spraying. There was a moment of absolute doubt and I was already composing my "it was a failure" post. I wiped for about a second or two more and then it was clear. I moved down the mirror to Gracie's art. This would be the deal breaker. Lo and behold, it cut through the caked on doggie art and left no streaks whatsoever.

It took a bit more elbow grease than some of the other options out there, but again, for the price difference and the knowledge that you're not layering on the chemicals, it is worth ten extra seconds of wiping. This gets a 10. Ditch those glass cleaners and start using this. For pennies you can have a big bottle of glass cleaner and no unnecessary chemicals.