Monday, August 27, 2012

Creative

Crocheted Stash Basket


This was easy enough, but I wondered what I was going to use it for. Then I remembered my disorganized cabinet in my bathroom where I keep my essential oils. So this is what I did.

After the basket was done, I made a base:

and the insert (both out of and old file folder):

traced around bottles for holes and put the two together:
Then I put into the basket

Then put it in the cabinet

Cute!



Monday, August 20, 2012

Joyous

Camping with a small car

I love camping and I have a lot of 'STUFF' I take camping, but since we downsized from a suburban to a small car, it's really difficult to find room for my likes and necessities. Plus some equipment can cost a lot of money, so I have some ideas of how to deal with both.

I loved watching 'The Home' show in the late 80's with Diane Thomas, and when I found these two books at a thrift store, I grabbed them.

You may be able to find these on the net at Amazon or Ebay or even look at thrift stores too.

She also has these others available:












She is amazing and has a lot of wonderful ideas. 

When I was in the young women's organization, we had a camp crafter's manual that also had some wonderful ideas.

Tent:

For several years, we had a really nice 2-room tent. It was not only used for our family, but girls camps and youth campouts.

Well a couple of summers ago, after and family camp, we set it up in the back yard to air dry. During the night a strong wind storm came up and bent poles and ripped the tent. NO MORE TENT.

We were done camping for the year so we thought, maybe next year we'll get a new one.

Well, a ward campout came up and we didn't have the funds for a new tent, and we really wanted to do.  Charly was little and could sleep on the back seat. I could sleep on the front seat, reclined back, but our tall, teenaged son could not do that.

So we took a tarp and stuck on side into the car doors, stretching it out and secured the other side with stakes. Ta-Da--Instant Tent!

Here are some other ways to use a tarp as a tent.

Cooking:

Fire: If you are able to have a camp fire, this will make your trip a "real camping experience,"

Many times you can get your wood where you will be camping, saving valuable space for other needed items, otherwise you may need to bring your own.

DON'T FORGET MATCHES : )

Follow safety rules of where to put your fire.

A great fire starter that doesn't take a lot of space and is easy to make it the egg carton fire starter:
Fill each cup of a cardboard egg carton with dry red pine needles, pieces of paper or dryer lint. Pour melted paraffin over the material, then place a looped string in the wax to be used as a wick.

Just tear off a cup, light, and you have a lit fire.

Once you have your fire, there are lots of way to cook over the fire.
-stick cooking
-spit cooking
-in the can (opened)
-grill supported by rocks
-pan supported by rocks
-foil packets
-dutch oven (using coals)
-foil reflector oven
-paper cups
-paper bags

For more information on how to use these methods, please refer to the books. 

Camp stove:

We have camped places where fires were prohibited, but propane stoves were ok.

These don't have to take a lot of space either.

They can keep you warm, easy to roast marshmallows over, and of course cooking.

We even have a grill box we set over one of the burners.

There are many options out there for buying them and making your own.

Food:

Food doesn't have to take a ton of space either.

Use ziplock bags as mixing containers for biscuits, muffins, pancakes, cakes, meatloaf, etc. You can even scramble eggs in a bag.

Have food prepped  at home, store in bags, adding liquids when needed. Then just throw the bag away.

Breakfast:
-eggs (can be hard boiled in paper cup or cooked with bacon in paper bags)
-pancakes
-biscuits
-muffins (can be cooked inside of hollowed out orange cut in half
-bacon or sausage
-fruit salad (stored and eaten out of bag)
-or SUPER simple no cook cereal (store and eat out of bag)

Lunch:
-veggies (store and eat out of bags)
-cold cut sandwiches (made ahead of time, adding condiments when ready to eat to keep from going soggy)
-stews or soups
-pizza (can be cooked on a stick or on foil or grill)
-pig in a blanket (on a stick or in foil)

Dinner:
-Meatloaf (cooked on a stick inside of foil)
-foil dinners
-stews
-fry bread tacos
-burgers
-Dutch oven anything
-chicken on a spit or dutch oven
-Pizza (grilled, upside down dutch oven, etc.)

Desserts:
-S'mores
-cobblers
-turnovers
-baked apples

Clean up and Sanitation:

Most camp grounds have bathrooms, at least the ones I go to so that is NOT something I will discuss here.

But keeping clean is important when camping.

Hand washing: 
Keep hand sanitizer around too.

Use a kettle on the stove or in a fire to heat up water.

Washing Dishes:

You don't need to even take a dish pan for this. You can dig a hole in the ground, put a plastic garbage bag down as a liner and fill with water and soap. Remove bag when done and refill with dirt. Leave not trace.

You can even do this for bathing if needed. 

Personal Grooming:

Take a bath towel for each person. Fold up the lower edge about 5 inches and sew pockets for toiletry items such as toothpaste, soap, cup, comb, mirror, and washcloth.

The excess material at the top can become a flap to keep the items in the pocket from falling out and can also serve as a towel for drying your hands an face. 

Sew straps on it so you can tie it around your waist to keep it handy.

Camping doesn't require a trailer or RV (though that would be nice). Nor does it require a lot of money. Camping does build a lot of wonderful memories. 

No need to put it off.  Just 'rough it easy'.

Share some of your ideas.

Compassionate

DAILY SURVIVAL KIT
to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others.
Matthew 7:1

to remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out.
Romans 8:28

to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or somebody else's.
Colossians 3:12-14

to remind you to list your blessings every day.
Ephesians 1:3

to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay.
Genesis 50:15-21

to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything with Jesus.
Phil 4:13


to remind you that you are worth a mint to your Heavenly Father.
John 3:16-17


to remind you that everyone needs a kiss and a hug every day.
1 John 4:7

to remind you to relax daily and go over that list of blessings.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Beatuiful

I love this hair site.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Joyous/Rabbits

In April we started our adventure with rabbits. Our first was a female Dutch, Oreo, whom we thought was pregnant. after more than 30 days we realized she was not.


When we realized she was not going to have babies, we started looking for a mate. We found Cookie. He was younger and smaller than Oreo, but he got the job done.


Three 'Mini Oreo/Cookies' were born on Father's Day.
Sorry I don't have pics of then. They are born without hair but their skin had black spots where they were to be black.

Here they are on July 9th, eating with mom


Here they are about 3 weeks ago.


We have as much of a problem taking a family pic as any human family.

Shall I jump?

Mom makes here shelf pretty for the picture.

Tag you're it!

He's got hair too.

Hi!

I love my mom.

Get Him!

PIN!

After the babies were a little bigger, we decided to get some more rabbits. Meet:

Digger (male)

Flopsy (female, yes like in Peter Rabbit)

Mopsy (female)

(Alex)Zander (male) Yes he has eyes, it's just really hard to get a
pic of a moving rabbit.

Having rabbits is easy, fun, and occasionally hard (when they escape and you have to try and catch them, I recommend having a long handled fishing net for this)
Cages are easy to make, with the right tools, they eat pellets, hay and a lot of other things too. But be careful, there are things they should not eat. If you would like a detailed list of both good and bad just let me know.
They don't take a lot of space and rabbit manure is the only animal manure you can put right onto your garden without it burning.
You can even make a bunny run (bottomless cage) to put in your yard and they will munch on grass.

Dutch rabbits are great show rabbits, all rabbits are good for 4-H. Some for show, other's for meat. (Sorry if that offends anyone.)

WE are hoping Zander and Flopsy will have babies around the end of the month. Digger seems a little 'shy' with Mopsy. Maybe in another month or so, he'll be ready.

We are now trying to sell the Dutch babies (all girls). Only two of the three are available, but we are letting anyone pick from the three, and the last one left will go to the lady letting them use a shed at her house, since DH would not let them be here at first. He is open to them eventually coming back here.