Green Cleaning: Furniture Polish

I've never really liked dusting. I've actually always kind of hated it, especially when there is so little dust you can't even tell. I like for things to be dirty if I have to clean them! I like to be able to see a difference so I know there was a good reason to put that effort into it. BUT dusting is a must in this house with a couple of us having some pretty strong allergies to dust (or dust mites, to be specific, but it sounds kind of gross when you add in the mites part...). I also hate using cleaners that are full of toxic ingredients that could harm my child (or myself). So, I make our furniture polish. It's very easy, as most green cleaners are, and works super well. I actually have two recipes, since you'll need different ingredients based on the type of furniture. And actually, they both have the same ingredients, just varying amounts. Let's get to it...and then get to cleaning!

There are four ingredients. Three are shown here, with a bottle of one of the cleaners mixed up. Water (purified is best), vinegar, olive oil, and pure essential lemon oil. That's it! You probably have most of these on hand already. Don't have the lemon oil (use the real stuff, not just lemon scented somethingorother)...you can use vanilla. Or leave it out. It's not a necessary ingredient.

Furniture Polish - This is good for general, weekly polishing, especially with finished woods.

In 16oz bottle, add:
2 tsp olive oil
20 drops or more pure essential lemon oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar

Fill the rest of the bottle with purified water. 
Shake well before each use, as the oil and vinegar will separate. 
Spray directly on a rag or on the furniture.


Wood Furniture Polish - This is good for unfinished or lightly finished woods. 

In a small squirt bottle (not a spray bottle), add:
3/4 cup oilive oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar,
50 drops or 1/4 tsp pure essential lemon oil (or pure vanilla extract)

Shake before each use. 
Pour onto rag and then apply to wood.

There you have it! Very easy. And these polishes are great! I've already converted a couple friends (some who were quite fond of their other furniture polish and weren't sure they would like this - but they loved it!). Hopefully this will convince a few more folks out there to try it, as well! ;)

And for a little fun... I'll throw in a picture of me getting ready to clean the cabin we visited last fall. Aiden got super sick as soon as we arrived (even with the allergy medicine we brought along), due to the dust hiding under the beds, behind furniture, along baseboards, on things like this...

These kinds of things are really cute, yeah. But the first thing that crosses my mind when I see them? Dust! Big-time dust collectors. This is why you will not find these things in our house. Cute. But not good for folks with dust (mite) allergies. You can't clean these things!

And here I am. Pretty, huh? I'm ready to go in fighting and tackle that dust! Since I have the same allergies, I have to wear a mask when cleaning. Even with the mask this time, I still could feel it affecting my nose and sinuses for the rest of the day. Thankfully I took along my neti pot, which helped clean it out some. And the mask helped a lot, regardless. Plus, it's a great fashion statement, no? ;) We didn't use all the ingredients for the spray above, since we were in the middle of nowhere (we drove an hour one-way just to get the vinegar and swiffer!), so I just used a bucket and dumped in water and vinegar. Great ingredients when you're lacking anything else!


That child of mine woke hourly the first two nights, crying because he couldn't stop coughing and sneezing. After I cleaned, he slept all night long without waking once. That's how I get paid for my job. Definitely worth it.

CranApple Smoothie

It's the season for cranberries, apples, and...well, it's always the season for smoothies around here! And they all go together wonderfully, of course! The kids really like this one, and we never have leftovers, even when making a large amount.

I know not everyone is a big fan of cranberries, especially raw cranberries. They're quite tart. Add all the sugar it might take you to like them, and you've kind of taken out some of the health factor there! Cranberries are so good for you! They contain fiber, vitamin C, phytonutrients (that may help fight several types of cancer) and are a great source of antioxidants. Something interesting about cranberries, from 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life...cranberries have antiadhesion properties. These properties help prevent certain bacteria from sticking to cells in our bodies; this is how consuming cranberries helps with fighting UTIs, as well as other things. Make you want to go out and eat some? With this smoothie, you probably won't even need a sweetener, as the apples, bananas, and blueberries add plenty of natural sweetness. If you do, though, a little squirt of agave or honey should do the trick.

Try it out and see what you think!

Overnight Steel-Cut Oats

I know a lot of folks out there like oatmeal. I am not one of them. For me, it's totally a texture issue. I like other things with oats in them, but oatmeal not-so-much. That is...until I started eating steel-cut oats. What a difference! The taste is still there, but they're a bit chewier and nuttier than rolled oats. It's not the same as the other mushy oatmeal that I don't like. I still can't eat it every single day, but I do like to have it on occasion, especially when it gets colder outside and we all want a nice warm breakfast in the morning. And the boys really like it!

The only thing is, steel cut oats can take a while. Half an hour or so. I know I certainly don't have that kind of cooking time in the morning! For a while I would just cook it at night and then put it in the fridge to reheat in the morning, but then I learned about making *overnight* steel-cut oats. It's the best of both worlds...you get the good kind of oatmeal (in my opinion) and it doesn't take forever to make. Plus...steel-cut oats are actually better for you than regular oats. They are much less processed and have more dietary fiber. (And if you eat gluten-free, you can just use gluten-free oats.)

This recipe makes quite a bit, which we happen to like because we can all eat it for breakfast one weekend morning and then use leftovers for some of us for breakfast during the week. You can easily halve it or change the amounts to make the amount you want.

Homemade Yogurt

I've been making our yogurt for a while now. I started mostly because I didn't want to buy sugar-filled yogurt when Aiden was starting to eat it as a baby. We got a yogurt maker and were set. The yogurt was good, easy, we knew what was in it, and we flavored it ourselves. I had heard about making yogurt without a yogurt maker, and not too long ago, I finally tried it. I was kind of getting tired of using those little jars to make yogurt, for one thing. And it took up space on the counter, which is already so small. Anyway, after looking up some recipes online, I went for it. And it worked! I've tried several ways, many of which work just fine. If you want to make yogurt at home, I recommend it. It's really very easy; you'll just have to find which method works best for you!

Why make your own yogurt? Any flavored yogurt out there will also be loaded with sweeteners, for one thing - and way more than you need (and probably way more than you want, once you really take the time to look at the label). There are usually preservatives and other things that are unnecessary. Even organic yogurt (and especially those yogurts made for babies and kids!) will have stuff in there that you probably don't want. Plus, organic yogurt is expensive - making your own organic yogurt is a lot less costly. Yogurt you make requires only a couple ingredients. Milk and some kind of starter. Yes, that's it. We do buy freeze-dried yogurt starter for some batches. I'll make yogurt with that, and then the next round or two is made with leftover yogurt that hasn't been flavored. Below I'll show you how I make yogurt for my family. The recipe I use is based on a post from Passionate Homemaking (great blog - check it out!).

So, here's how to do it all...

"Eat Your Veggies!!"

Ever said that to your child? Your spouse? ...Yourself? I thought I would post some of the ways we get folks around here to eat fruits and veggies. And I would love to hear your tips for success, as well. Or your struggles. Both, perhaps. I know we have a mix, depending on the day!

Here are some tips that many of us might have already heard. The last one is our newest and most successful... We have to keep stocked up on many of these veggies now because they just get eaten so quickly! What a great problem to have, huh? Most of my tips are for veggies, but if it's fruit you have a hard time with, the same methods would apply. We happen to have fruit-lovers in this house, so we don't have a problem in that area. My kids are fairly very good eaters, but there is always room for improvement. And even with good eaters, there are still complaints when certain foods get put on their plates...

Green Smoothies

I've been making the family green smoothies for a while now, at least a year. We were instantly sold when we started because...well, they taste just like regular smoothies! I get lots of questions about how I make them, lots of requests for my "recipes." Well, I'll give it a go...but I'll warn you... I don't really follow an actual recipe. And once you get started you'll see why.

And because of this, hopefully this post won't be all over the place and will make some sort of sense!

Why are green smoothies important? For one, who doesn't like a good smoothie?! Secondly, how many of you consume a lot of greens on a daily basis? Greens are so nutritionally dense, but most of us do not eat them daily or even often. They're packed with all sorts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, proteins, fiber, phytonutrients...just such an incredible amount of goodness!! And if you don't eat them because you don't like them... Or if you only eat them on occasion in a salad here and there, which isn't as much as you should be getting... Green smoothies are the perfect way to get the goods and enjoy your food!

28 Days

They say it takes 28 days to make/break a habit. Today marks 28 days exactly that I have been drinking my coffee sans sugar. And I just have to toot my own horn a bit.

While that may not sound like a very big deal to many of you out there, it's a pretty big deal for me. While it's always kind of annoyed me when people say it (because these types of sayings just annoy me in general), I have to admit, I'm one of those people that someone will see me making my coffee and say, "So, you like some coffee with your sugar, huh?"

For the longest time now, I could get by with just two spoonfuls of sugar (sometimes those spoonfuls were more FULL than others...), but I still know how bad it is for me to be taking in all that extra, unnecessary sugar every day, even if I stick to one cup a day. I was trying to gradually cut back on the sugar, but, um...that just doesn't work with me. I'm sure it might work for some, but add just a little bit less sugar than the day before, and I can tell big time. There's no fooling this girl! I don't do artificial sweeteners. That stuff is worse for you than regular sugar! I've tried agave and stevia...no thanks; those didn't work. And I'm not going to put honey in my coffee, even if it is delicious with tea. I was running out of options...

I finally got up the nerve to just go sugarLESS. As in sugar-FREE. It was not an easy decision. Seriously. I don't drink coffee because I need that caffeine each morning. I drink it because I like the TASTE of it. So, I clearly have to think it tastes good, or else it's just not worth it. (And I didn't want to give up my coffee just to give up the sugar.) In case you don't know me well enough - because if you know me, you know this - I have such a sweet tooth! But. I. Did. It. One morning I decided that was the day. I made my coffee. And skipped the sugar.

That was 28 days ago. The past few mornings I've noticed that I haven't been noticing the lack of sugar. Hopefully that made sense... I drink my coffee, enjoyed it, was a bit sad when I realized I just drank the last drip out of the cup, and then realized....I didn't even notice there was no sugar! That's pretty awesome.

I have had a little help, I guess. One friend suggested trying some cinnamon in my coffee. I'm not a huge cinnamon person, but I figured it didn't hurt, and it wasn't that bad. The only problem was cinnamon doesn't dissolve, which she had mentioned, so you had to stir it every now and then, and cinnamon stayed on the top while you were drinking it and then in the bottom of the cup when the coffee was gone. Then another friend said she knew someone who drank it with cinnamon, but they added it before brewing. Aha! I use a one-cup filter...the kind that sits on top of the cup with the coffee grounds in it, and you pour in the hot water...and it drips the coffee right into your cup. Simple, and it works perfectly for me. So, after I put in my grounds, I give the cinnamon a little shake. Just a shake, not much. You get the flavor without the mess. It makes the coffee a little less bitter but doesn't make it really taste like cinnamon. It's actually pretty darn good. You should try it sometime!

I have noticed I like coffee from some other places less because it's stronger or more bitter than what I have at home (and typically would mean I add more sugar...), so I end up taking my own coffee more often. That's not so bad anyway. It's fixed just how I like it that way.

I do think I feel a bit better without that extra sugar. Maybe not as sluggish some mornings (or afternoons...because sometimes that's when I get around to actually drinking my coffee!). And I *know* that stuff is bad for me. I don't mind having a little sugar here and there on certain foods, etc. But knowing that I was consuming so much every day via that cup of coffee was a little unsettling. I can enjoy the coffee that much more now, knowing that I'm not harming my body with extra sugar that I really don't need. A little coffee is good for you. Cinnamon is good for you.

So, there it is. I now drink my coffee black. Yay for me. :)

I told Ryan he's next, but I don't think he's biting...

Toddlers with Strep and Our Go-To "Sick Kid" Drink

So...that sick toddler. I wanted to go into that a little bit more. Not because it was a huge deal that he had strep. It was a surprise to us that he got it, but he did ok. What was a big deal is how easily it could have been overlooked. When a toddler has strep, they normally will not have the typical symptoms. If you're looking for a child who can't barely swallow and is acting miserable like most of us when we have strep, well, you're looking for the wrong things.

Aiden first started showing signs of being sick on Tuesday. He was fine all day, playing like normal even through dinnertime. Suddenly, though, I noticed he felt warm. He still didn't act sick, but he did have a low-grade fever that eventually went up to 102 by the time he was going to bed. By that time, even though he acted fine, Ryan and I both noticed that Aiden had "that look." You know the one little kids have when they might be about to throw up (or at least our kid). His eyes looked heavy and glossed over a bit. He didn't really look sick, but we both could see it coming... Shortly after getting him to bed and right before Ryan and I started a part of a project we wouldn't have been able to simply walk away from, I heard a tiny noise. Wanting to make sure it wasn't a kid throwing up, I ran up the stairs with Ryan at my heels. Sure enough... Yep. Poor kid kept saying, "Uh-oh... Oh no!" because he noticed the mess from what he just did. He thought he had done something wrong, which just about broke our hearts and had us assuring him over and over it was ok. (And without being graphic...let's just say that blueberries earlier in the day do not make for fun vomit. Like it's ever fun, but this is just worse. If only we could know ahead of time so we would watch what we fed them...)

So, Aiden got sick a couple times, but by morning, he was over it. His fever was down to near 100 and was back to normal by lunchtime. And he was running around like nothing had ever happened. Easy to assume he just had picked up some virus. We were at a couple birthday parties over the weekend, so it made sense. Let's move on, right?

Over the next couple days, Aiden was acting just fine. The only problem was that he was waking up some after going to sleep and throughout the night. He would sometimes ask to be held, which is not like him, or would just cry out for a moment or so but not let us know what was wrong. He woke up from naps early and would be whiny because he was still tired. This, my friends, was his MAIN symptom. He wasn't eating wonderfully, but toddlers go through that. Nothing new. He would eat more at some times during the day and less at others. I think twice he casually mentioned, as he ate something, that his "mouth hurt"...but then he would go on eating and that was that. Once this was while eating salsa, so that made sense. When he said it while eating blueberries, it made me wonder. Thanks to a friend reminding me that toddlers can have strep without seeming like it, I was already thinking it could be possible. When the fever went away quickly, I almost dropped it, but when he wasn't sleeping well...I was suspicious. Ryan thought I was crazy.

But I was also right.

Friday found us at an urgent care getting a strep test. And we had Aiden's first antibiotics in hand by the time we arrived home, a few hours later. The hardest thing from all of this has been getting that child to take the medicine. We've had to hold him down together a number of times to get the pink stuff in his mouth, and sometimes he'll drink it on his own to avoid that traumatic experience. (We don't enjoy doing it, but...he does have to take the medicine.)

So... In case you're wondering, toddlers can definitely get strep and you can definitely miss it if you aren't sure what to look for. You can easily google the symptoms for toddlers. Basically, toddlers will usually experience fever, maybe vomiting, and sleep interruption. They might not eat or drink as well as usual because their throat could be a little sore, but a sore throat is not going to be the main problem, and it won't be as bad as it would be with an older child or adult. So, they might keep eating and drinking like normal or close to it (but those of us with toddlers know they sometimes don't eat well just because they are toddlers, too!). We could see a bit of red and a blister in Aiden's throat, but...it's not easy getting a peek into a toddler's throat. If you can, go for it, though. Most websites do say it's not common for children under 3 to get strep. Maybe so, but that doesn't mean they can't get it.


One website mentioned not to run to the dr at the first sign of a sore throat and to wait a day or two to see how the child is acting/feeling. Even my own husband thought nothing was wrong because of how normal Aiden was acting, other than not sleeping very well. I just knew there was more to it, though. Even if things don't seem too off, follow your instincts. And know what to look for, as well. If I had been looking for typical symptoms and hadn't already known how different strep shows up in toddlers, this would have been missed. And while Aiden seemed fine, not treating strep can lead to other complications, which is why you want to know what symptoms to look for. There are *many* websites with information if you do a simple google search. Here is just one.

And...a little product review here. When Aiden is sick with some virus, especially when he's throwing up, we have one thing we always reach for to try to get into his system. Well, two, I guess. One is a probiotic, if we feel he needs it (such as now while he's on antibiotics). We use a powder version for Aiden and sprinkle it into a food or drink we know he will finish. But the other is this...

Ultima Replenisher is a natural "sports drink" with electrolytes. Think Gatorade or Pedialyte. But this comes with no added sugar, no artificial colors or flavors, and it has extra good stuff in it. (It's also gluten free and vegan.) We found some at Whole Foods, but I'm sure you can get it many other places. We've only tried the kids version in one flavor (shown above). Both of the boys like the flavor, and we try to get Aiden to sip on it when he can't keep anything down. We don't drink a lot of juice in our house, so it's nice because he thinks of it as a bit of a treat... It comes in powder form and lasts quite a while, too. I know when Camden has been playing hard or Aiden is sick, we don't want to pump them full of extra sugar, and we try to avoid artificial ingredients when possible, so this is a great alternative to those other drinks. We don't use it often, but I like having it in the pantry for when we do need a little more than just water. 

Even when the kid is sick, he still acts silly! This is the morning after he was sick, when we thought he was on his way to getting over a virus. He's working on his second cup (or the beginning of it).