I’m pretty mentally unorganized, I guess, and speaking and writing helps me organize my thoughts [at least internally].
Anyone out there like that?
Occasionally I write on another little blog I didn’t necessarily intend to share…but I’ve decided to throw it in here, because its typically the “mama” side of Emergency Mama…or the “me” side.
As obviously new to blogging as I am, Shayna, at Homeschool Hoopla, who I believe is also “new” to it will fool you!
She is a great writer and her humor and clarity make her blog a delight to read!
We all know we could do more to plan for difficulties of all sorts!
You may have read my entries about Shelf Reliance THRIVE foods, and emergency supplies,{ that I boast and brag about and am here to serve you with},
but there is a lot of planning and gathering of information that will help you along as well!
I love her Emergency Binder entry and Knight in Shining Armor entry…check them out!
I think if we all work together, sharing ideas and plans, we’ll all get a little more equipped a little bit faster! 
I made quinoa in my rice cooker 2 nights ago, and purposely made extra to add to other meals this week.
My leftover quinoa dish today, was a mixed salad, with fresh tomatoes,
THRIVE freeze-dried spinach [Holy junebugs- I love it!], and a little feta thrown in.
Here’s how I did it.
Scoop the quinoa into a pan or glass bowl.
put a splash [coupleTBS] of water in, add the tomato dices (fresh or canned or freeze-dried) and either warm it on the stove, or microwave it for 1.5 minutes.
Stir in feta.
Enjoy.
I have not fingers: I call them “crusty nubs”.
My skin is D-R-Y dry.
I garden, wash dishes endlessly, and do all things where hands are required with no gloves.
Split, bleeding and crackly hands are my ongoing “emergency”.
The same goes for my bare feet- which I also refer to as “snaggle-hooves”.
In fact, the dryness and splitting has even become painful, infected gruesomeness that has caused me to actually hobble.
Gross, I know…just trying to make my point, and sadly- I do NOT exaggerate.
So– I need to always have a major scrub available.
But its kinda pricey sometimes! Most of the time- and I don’t trust the Dollar Store kind with all manner of unpronounceable ingredients that happens to usually come from China…
So this is what I do:
{I use salt scrub, not sugar. I think that healing element in salt is what someone like me is looking for, and although it can sometimes STING LIKE THE DICKENS, it is pretty potent.}
I get a big bag of Epsom Salt at CVS [2-6lb bags for $9 once, but usually they are about $4.79 each]
I put a little under 2 cups in an old jelly jar.
Fill it with enough olive oil to saturate. [or coconut oil, canola oil- whatever you like]
Here I added half my salt, then the oil, then filled with salt again
Then you can really almost leave it at that, honestly.
I DO like to add a *little* soap- I find that it kind of help wash off the thickness of the oil nicely, and adds a nice smell if it’s scented.
I add about 2 squirts of this Meyers Clean Day hand soap, and as you can see, have grated some Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap before…I like those smells
Its SOUNDS cool if you add sea salt…but I haven’t found it entirely necessary…but i DO add it…it seems like the fine grains do a little something nice…who knows? I add maybe…3-4 TBS? Salt is cheap…its not gonna kill us!
Here’s the end product that I keep by the sink and scoop with a spoon or my paw! Follow up with a little lotion and voila! Hands and feet! NOT crusty nubs and snaggle-hooves!
I
So! Homemade Laundry Powder…How might one make it?
It’s very simple, with few steps and few ingredients and very few dollars, but will do quite a number of loads of laundry!
You will need:
I ‘ll give the food processor instructions because your hand grater is a pretty obvious task
Place the grater attachment blade on your processor and grind the soap like below:
I usually double or triple my recipe, so when my processor is full, I transfer the soap shavings to a bowl.
Then I add the powders (2 cups of each) and about 2 loosely packed cups of soap shavings in the processor with a flat blade to mix together like this:
When I am done I pour it into a canister. If I triple the batch, I need the largest size.
Use 1 TBS each load!
Can you imagine how many loads this lasts for?
Hurrah!
Note:
The dust created in the processor irritates my highly sensitive nasal cavity – but certainly not in any grand way that causes any more suffering than a few sneezes and a little itch for a bit…might be the same for you;-)
Do one thing to simplify for 5 minutes.
My mom used to set her timer and we would have a happy race about the house putting things away and cleaning up.
It wasn’t all the time. But it worked.
Its easy to look at how COMPLICATED something appears and then run from it. Procrastinate. Feel overwhelmed.
You might not finish the job in 5 minutes but you’ll be closer to done than you thought, closer to your goal that you previously were, and you will have taken ACTION.
…and then again, you may be able to cross it off the list.
Just get to one of those things, maybe one here in the 31 Days of Simplicity, or here, or on one of the many scrap pieces of paper with lists on it, and instead of saying you’ll get around to it, Do it!!!
Try!
thanks for sharing the journey with me!
I think I AM getting Simpler [hopefully not in the mind, but in the thinking!]
Marianne Shearer says,” Put man-made food in a God-made body and get man-made diseases. Put God-made food in a God-made body and have God-made health.”
Good idea.
Isn’t much of our stress and complication in life due to lack of sleep, allergies, ailments, aches, pains, health concerns, and body issues?
You know what they are, and you know that you parents or your in-laws have them…
[Buying and buying and buying for the little cherubs.]
But it might just be you, too…
We go into debt, debt and more debt…and don’t even care a hoot because we must buy thing to prove our love!
We must spend equally on everyone!
credit: usafeast.com
We must give ’til it literally hurts us!
Why?
Because that’s what the signs say!
If I give beautifully wrapped box after box of unneeded item after unneeded item, I will have those nice holiday warm-fuzzies that the pretty, fit, smiling people in the pretty woolen sweaters, cuddled by the classy fireplace with new garlands adorning, shining stocking hangers proudly sitting, firelight blazing, candles aromatizing[is that a word?], and people smiling, smiling, smiling have.
Isn’t that what Holy Days, oops, I mean holidays, are about?!?!?!?!?
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT it.
I know- I’m back there again.
But this is aimed at what we bring in, not what we let go.
My daughter was doing her Social Science work and was listing her wants and needs.
The question followed: Which has a longer list?
the answer, no surprise, was wants.
NEEDS
In that order 
WANTS
ummm…can you tell what she is forced to live without? Poor, poor child…so disadvantaged.
But I ‘m glad she gets it; the difference between wants and needs.
Do we?
