Green Jean Granny

HA! That sounds awful. We ran out of dish soap yesterday, finally, and I made my own. No bubbles is kinda wierd and takes some getting used to. So here’s what I did. I mixed Borax and baking soda in a container. We won’t be letting the dishes pile up (yeah right) as much. I put a basin in the sink for soaking instead of my huge tub sink. The actual soap is a mixture in a lg Ajax recycled bottle. 1/2 c Dr. Bronners liquid Castille Soap (because it’s what I have), 2 TB liquid glycern, 3 drops tee tree EO, 1 cup vinegar, then fill the bottle with hot water. They say 1/2 cup to wash dishes including pots and pans for a family of 4’s use – sounds about right. So this morning, I made dog treats. You know the 1lb rolls of turkey meat? My bowl was a greasy mess when I finished. I soaked the bowl in borax and soda with a squirt of dw soap. Let sit for a few minutes and washed. No grease left over! I am totally pleased!

I used it to wash my eye glasses and had to rinse in a few drops of vinegar – the EO I guess seemed to smear the glasses a titch.

I got online and found a recipe for homemade fabric softner too! Now this is just too cool. With our appliance situation, we are juggling stuff to the point that everything is stiff and rough. The top part of the washer’s agitator is broken. It doesn’t spin out the water correctly, so while we have a limping dryer, we have to still hang clothes till they are mostly dry. It’s barely working but better than nothing. Steve and I were discussing the possibility of fabric softner but we have to be careful because we are both extremely sensitive to fragrances. I found a recipe this morning I’m going to try.

Fabric Softener Sheets:
3- 4 cups water
1 cup vinegar
1 cup of hair conditioner (the cheaper the better)
A plastic bottle to mix the ingredients in and a second plastic container – anything that has a lid (I’m thinking one of those containers you buy with lunch meat in it)
Combine all ingredients in your large bottle and shake well. Use old wash cloths, (if they are badly frayed, trim and hem them) or cut and hem an old towel. Cut the towel or wash clothes or rags to fit into the square plastic container. Layer 3 to 5 clothes
and pour enough softener to get the bottom rag wet. Seal the container. To use a
fabric softener sheet, flip the stack of rags and get the wet one. Wring it out
into the container. After your clothes are dry, put the used cloth back on top.
Next time turn the stack over to get another wet one. Just keep rotating through the
rags and add more fabric softener to the container as needed. (Think of all the different scents of conditioner – coconut, kiwi-lime, strawberry, ocean breeze, blackberry and green tea – something will be just right I’m sure) Vinegar is a natural rinsing agent and will not leave a smell but helps make your clothes soft. Also, you can almost always find VO5 or Suave conditioners for under $1.00 a bottle so this is very economical. Buying big gallon jugs of vinegar also makes it even cheaper.

We’ve been using the lemon washing powder I made for 2 weeks now and Steve’s happy. He does the laundry. Hopefully the fabric softner sheets will make him even happier! He did kinda draw back at the first wiff – the conditioner I have on hand is REAL light on scent and the vinegar got him! lol There are moments I wish we had on video! He just called down, “wring it out? I hope it doesn’t cause any spots!” We shall see and I’ll let you know.

There’s not a lot happening besides adjustments at the moment. It feels like I’m wringing EVERYTHING out. Cutting more pennies here and there. I try not to let myself think it’s not enough – but it’s hard to block those thoughts. Fall is here. Today, my family is intact. G told me if we ever move from GA he wants to go to LA or AR. He’s so funny.

It’s the 22nd of the month and I still have $212 to make it to the 11th of Oct. I’ve actually set a goal to have some Food Stamps left over. I really feel if you get a benefit, you should value it and not waste any part of it. Since the other part of my goal was to only shop twice for groceries in a month, I think we’re doing pretty good. When you make fairly big runs, the trick is to keep your fresh items from going bad. Like the cucumbers and the lettuce and spinach. I shopped hungry – it couldn’t be helped – and the next day I made batches of stuff – like the spinach noodles and potato salad and Steve wanted BLT’s and I didn’t let him cook the whole pk of bacon. so today, I cooked the last 8 slices and we’ll do BLT’s again. Now that leaves the spinach noodles to use again. I worried about letting them rest in the fridge too long. If I hadn’t used spinach in them, they would of kept better.  We’ve been buying manager’s special bread and making bread pudding – lasts most of the week. I’m making yogurt today. I have some peach syrup I put up last year that will flavor it wonderfully. It really is a balancing act.

My youngest daughter called a bit ago and asked me to help her figure out what to do with $5. She’s home and hungry. She has ingredients for corn bread. She has butter. She needs milk. I suggested a can of tuna, some milk (wish I could get some powdered milk to her) and a $1’s worth of vegetables. Green vege’s would be best. With milk she could make white sauce. She needs to buy corn starch too next time she can. I’m going to make her a list of basics. She’s learning.

Anyway. I imagine if anyone read this far they deserve a medal. I don’t mean to bore anyone, I’m just trying to work things out OUT LOUD.

AND for the people who think my dog shouldn’t get dog treats when we are so broke – piss on em. (except Kayla who was sick when she said it and my other kids who only think it). That dog is the only thing that keeps us sane. We walk him as often as we get to leave the house. He loves us and pushes us to play and laugh and love him back. I think spending $1 for a roll of ground turkey or chicken that is mixed with 30 yr old ground flour, 30 yr old powdered eggs, and 30 yr old powdered milk is not too much to do for him. I wasn’t kidding when I said that survival stash was gonna save my pet’s lives for as long as possible. Until I’m on the street, my cats are NOT expendable. Even IF I live on the street, neither is my dog.  This is not their fault and I do not believe in killing them when we can still manage to feed them. I don’t want to hear ANY opinions on my animals that is negative.

Anyway. Enough for today. Be blessed and please change your way of thinking. Start striving to save every penny you can, not spend them because some advertiser reels you in with images and the word SALE. Pennies are fucking precious. That soda you get with your lunch and pay almost $3 for, is TWO 2-liter bottles of the same soda – it’s enough money to make a difference to someone who’s hungry or homeless. It’s enough money to help a child not go to bet with hunger pains. I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty – but if people with their needs met could just skrimp for 2 days a month – what a difference could be made right here in America. Use it to buy tampons for some woman in a shelter or some small item of hygene that food stamps won’t cover and hand it to someone who is going through this crap. more than 1 in 10 are suffering. We all know somebody we could make a difference to if we just stop trying NOT to notice.

Ah…for someone making her own soap I sure stand on the box enough. Sorry. I’m going back to my knitting corner now. Peace and love – REALLY.

You know, I may just write her in! Legalize pot. Forgive student loans. Forgive American debt. Grow nuts for protein to solve world hunger. Outlaw Bullshit. Embrace Matriarchy.

http://www.roseanneworld.com/blog/2010/05/my-campaign-for-president-of-t.php

Sounds better to me than anyone else I’ve heard. Here’s a small quote:

“Women, let’s stop propping up bullshit and reflecting it back at twice its size!! Let’s drop out big time and stop buying things!  Let’s plant gardens.  Let’s not buy in, let’s get real.
Let’s take back the real estate between our ears and get green like a son of a bitch!
Let’s start our own schools and teach our kids to heal the world and not destroy it.  Let’s help each other first for once, before we help men or their gods!  Let’s be selfish for our own sake and theirs, just this once.  I know the thought of that seems blasphemous and horrific, but we have to do it!”

She’s irreverant and off the wall and pissy as usual – but some good ideas are better than no good ideas.

_______________________________________________

Really, I’m tired. I’ve stretched dollars till they scream. I’m selling our things. I am holding on. I still smile. I’m angry. I cry. I laugh at stupid stuff. I’m doing everything I know how to do without killing my pets, or my husband. When people tell me they are gonna do something, I need them to keep their word. I have momentary “rises in reaction” to people I love and they don’t mean I love you less. It just means I’m tired. If it weren’t for the fact we’ll be cold, I’d be calling the fall and winter to us so I can crawl inside my personal cave and hide for a while. I need it. The self nurturing time women need so badly as they cycle is practically non-existant when you are clawing to survive.

My son is selling his games on Ebay so he can have a new one to play. He’s an amazing teen. His front tooth has a huge cavity that he swears doesn’t hurt and I can’t get it fixed. I applied for peachcare but the system isn’t straightforward and I can’t figure out how to get it into place for us. I haven’t had generations of using the benefits to guide me through figuring out welfare. The offices don’t make it easy either. They are swamped and there are years of backlog because so many are in the line ahead of me. My dyslexia and problem with numbers isn’t helping either. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!

I am tired.

Today's efforts

So the alarm went off at 6:15am. I got up, threw my clothes on, twisted my hair into a bun, walked G to his bus stop, and climbed into the Jimmy. 6:38am. I made a quick trip to Kroger to deposit the money Steve made yesterday. Then headed to Walmart to shop for groceries. EBT refilled this morning. By 9am, I was home and groceries were put up. The sugar I bought was like gold to me this morning!

Yesterday I cleaned all the cabinets, sorted the pots and pans, cleaned under the sink and screwed canning jar lids to the underside of the top cabinets. I placed 8 jars – one each for bread crumbs, powdered milk, corn meal, flour, sugar, brown sugar, irish cut oats, and grits. I love how it looks. I made oatmeal bar soap.

I’ve boiled half a chicken and made a wonderful broth; and there are spinach noodles laying on plastic ziploc bags (for want of a sheet of plastic lol) drying. I sectioned my dough into 4ths and didn’t realize how to cut it until the last quarter! lol A pizza cutter is the way to go – NOT a boning knife! Oh the effort I’d of saved myself! (I poured the spinach cooking water into the chicken broth.)

I have my dehydrator soaking for a thorough clean. Not quite sure what I’ll do with it, but it feels like I need to get it ready for something.

We had BLT’s for lunch. I bought a big tomato and we had salad greens to use. Since neither of us ate breakfast, we cooked 5 slices of bacon and made 3 sandwhiches on fresh sliced french bread. YUM! The rest of the loaf is sitting sliced and uncovered to get stale for a bread pudding I have been craving. My UK friend Naomi told me how to make it and I can’t wait. Like I said, that sugar is gold!

I’ll make a nice chicken and vegetable soup for tomorrow. Tonight we’ll have spinach pasta with onions and peppers and chicken. I think I’ll make a parmesan cream sauce to drizzle over it. I don’t have enough to drench it in fetticcini sauce, but I’ll be darned if what I make is lacking! It’s gonna be awesome. My god this is nice even though it’s simple fare. We’ll get 4 meals out of that one chicken.

I splurged and got a pkg of pizza rolls, oreos, and a lunchable for Geoffrey. I bought a gallon of vanilla ice cream. No soda, no premade anything. I got salt pork to add to beans and collards. I got 2 lbs of gr beef, a pkg of chicken livers, 1 whole chicken, a pk of 3 cube steaks, a pk of 4 boneless pork chops, a Smoked Beef sausage, a 1lb pk of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, and 1 small pk of cheap bacon. I had a small roast in the freezer already that I was hording. I bought 10 cans of tuna, 2 cans of chunk chicken, and 3 cans of Vienna Sausage. I got a big block of cheese and 2 pks of lunch meat.

It sounds like so much to spend $260. 3 yrs ago I was spending that much every week and not even thinking twice. Now I check my receipt, check off each item, stretch everything as far as possible, and even hide things my guys will go through in the night time hours that I haven’t planned for. I’ve got a menu made up. I’ve got a revolving grocery list. I’ve made our laundry soap, bath soap, dish soap, dog treats, and even shampoo. The fall garden is planted.

Everyday I wake up thinking Goddess help us save our home. Every night I go to bed whispering the same thing, Goddess help us save our home. I know we are out of work. I know there is no work here – it’s so hard to let go of every plan we made for our home just because the economy is shot. I know, pack and store our things so we can sell the house… that’s the plan – but it still sucks. This is where we wanted to live. Surely something can still unfold?

Please Universe?

I got up this morning and feel pretty good. I have a project for today – cleaning the lower kitchen cabinets. I finished the upper cabinets yesterday. They are pretty bare but they are clean and ready for groceries. I called my big strong hubby to check out a spider which was definitely a black widow. She was busy making herself a home in the back of the top shelf. Steve squished her with a sun screen bottle. Ew. Any other kind of spider and we’d have caught and carried her outside.

I walked out and checked my new seedlings – it’s chilly and they are growing slowly. It should warm up again in the next couple days.

I have coffee. The Goddess is is vibrant BLUE this morning!

I’m going to make out a good grocery list today to use on the 11th. OMG that’s tomorrow!

Speaking of the 11th. My blessings to everyone on that day. We were all effected. 10 yrs ago, I wanted to gather my family around me and stay at home. It took every bit of strength I could muster to let us emerge from my cocoon thoughts. I guess the media thinks remembering all the tragedy visually, is the way to go. Every year, terrorists try to cripple us with fear. We allow it. We are forever changed. I think we should keep our memories and share them in our homes. The Cherokee people were storytellers. We taught through our stories; remembered through our stories; and walked forward with our stories. Whipping the fear and sadness back up each year upsets me badly. It’s not the right way to remember. It’s like, the difference between watching a story and reading a story. I don’t think we need the visuals to accomplish the understanding. Yeah well, what do I know?

I have 2 panels finished of the 8 I need to make G’s new afghan. He needs a blanket to crawl under this winter. I remember last winter and how cold we were – it’s still gonna be cold this year. lol No money appeared to fix the heater so I am preparing. The blanket will be very “Army” looking.

We won $50 cash last night. I’m going to insist Steve get shoes and we pay the tag/taxes on the Jimmy. AND we won $50 house cash. Two firsts in a row.

The little dog cookies I made lasted 2 weeks! Jackie settled into accepting them without too much coaxing. $1 for 2 weeks of treats. Wonderful trick.

There is fish for dinner tonight. I’ll fry it I think. we’ll have potato soup and a mixed green salad. Actually, I can’t wait.

So what else? Say a prayer for my youngest girl. She’s got a hell of a day ahead.

– aside from being dry enough to plant the rest of the seeds, I think that’s it. Just good stuff this morning. Good stuff.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥  oh yeah, our autumn girl has been active weaving her magic outside the front window. Isn’t she lovely?

I guess it’s how you look at them – dreary, or friendly. I always like the autumn drizzle. Day after day though, the gray gets a bit challenging. We had a bit of sunshine early on this morning then the clouds returned. No matter, I’m kinda used to gray.

On TV this morning I saw a news clip with Gov. Deal patting himself on the back because in 2013, Lowe’s will be opening up a 3rd plant in Georgia, bringing 600 jobs to the Rome area. I’m really happy for the 600 people, but it’s laughable to act like that’s a coup for job creation.

I have August’s house payment written out and will pay it tomorrow.

Steve folded clothes today and finally left the house at 5pm to go cut his brother’s grass. I know 2 hrs is plenty of time and I can’t blame him for not having any umph about it. He left here wearing an old trash pair of shoes his brother gave him which he was throwing away that are too big and sliding up and down his heals as he walked. I wanted to cry.

The day got too late a start to get the tire replaced. He found a place to buy a used tire for $25. The steel belt is so bare and protruding we are not safe to drive.

the gas/elec bill came today. The notice for tag renewal came last week. Water bill will get here tomorrow. I need to pay Comcast for the Internet.

Dell took their money – DAMN them – and I mean that. I was late once and the set up auto draft so they always GOT payment. They raised the pmt the next month and I couldn’t pay more. For 2 yrs they have refused to let me into the management section of the website until I am caught up – they will not cancel the auto withdrawl or close my account. They take 55$ from me monthly and my only choice is to close my bank account, which I cannot do. So as far as I am concerned, they are now stealing from me because my merchandise would have been paid off long ago. they simply take my money because my account accrues late payments due to the rise in amount. I hate them – just so you know.

Again, no meat today. I had a boiled egg for breakfast and a small mixed green salad as filler later. I made a pot of potatoes with peas and whitesauce for today’s main meal. I guess we were full enough. 3 more days till the food stamps reload.

Tonight President Obama will give his create jobs plan speech – I expect it to be pretty impotent. the republicans got hung up in their debating on repealing Obamacare. They offered nothing. I am deflated by it all.

I am determined to see past the gray skies.

I put an add on Craig’s list to sell my shawl, and to sell the lady’s clothes we got from JP. Hopefully we’ll get rid of both!

the seeds my sweet friend gave me arrived this afternoon. Kale, turnips, collards and sunflowers. Sunflowers always remind me of one of my favorite movies, The Calendar Girls – and here is my chin up reference for the day –

“I don’t think there’s anything on this planet
that more trumpets life than the sunflower.
For me, that’s because of the reason behind its name.
Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun.
During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky.
A satellite dish for sunshine.
Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it.
And that’s such an admirable thing.
And such a lesson in life.”

After the speech – I’m popping in the Calendar Girls and crocheting :0) I have candles lit in prayer for those facing rains and flooding. My heart is with those effected.