No Heat Curls: Rag Curl Tutorial

Sweetie has stick straight blond hair.  So straight that it absolutely doesn't hold curls when I've tried curling it with a curling iron.  Any hair that actually curls, will be straight again within 10 minutes.  While this makes it super easy to do her hair on most days, she is sad whenever we have tried to curl it and it doesn't work.  We have been reading the Little House on the Prairie series and once it was mentioned that they used rags to make their hair curly.  I wondered if that would work for Sweetie and so we gave it a try.  It worked beautifully and Sweetie had curls that stayed ALL day!  Her hair was even still curly the next day!  It is super easy too, so I thought I would share with you how we did it.

All you need are strips of cloth about 6 inches long and 1 in wide and wet hair.  We've done it right after Sweetie takes a bath in the evening and I just cut up an old pair of ripped pants into our strips of cloth.

First, start by taking a small strip of hair and wrapping the end around one of the strips of cloth, right in the middle. 

Then continue rolling the hair around the strip all the way up to the head.  Then take the ends of the strip and tie a knot in it. 

Continue doing that with all of the hair until it is all tied up in the strips of cloth. 

If you want smaller curls, use smaller sections of hair and do more of them and if you want bigger curls, use bigger sections of hair.  Then go to bed for the night.
When you wake up in the morning, take out the strips, style your hair, and ta-da, beautiful curls that will hold for a long time!

Blessings,

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Far Above Rubies
The Better Mom
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Titus 2sday
Women Living Well
A Delightful Home
Raising Arrows
The Modest Mom
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Safe For My Family AND a New Business!

Since having kids, I have really become more aware of a lot of the products that we use in our home. I try to find things that I know are safe to use around them and are healthy for them. Before Mark and I got married, he was a preferred customer in a great business that carried a variety of products that are very safe. We continued to use these for a number of years, but then I set out to find ways to save money and make things myself so we stopped purchasing. I have found a few homemade things that work well, but with our many little ones running around and trying to keep up with our schooling, I just don't have the time to make them myself. There's nothing like running out of laundry detergent in the middle of wash day or remembering you used up the last of your deodorant after your workout. ;) It's so much easier to just have them stocked in my pantry instead of finding time to make more.  There were also a lot of things I couldn't make or they didn't work the way I hoped and so I was still purchasing a lot of things. So we decided to become preferred customers again. I love so many of their products! They have this amazing lotion that is one of our favorite products. It is great on my kids' dry skin and has even cured the cracks Mark gets on his feet when nothing else has helped. I have been getting some deep spring cleaning done this week and the kids love to help. I feel completely safe letting them use the cleaning products because they are all natural! They have a complete line of cleaners, nutrition supplements, first aid products, hygiene products, and makeup/skin care products. All of them are completely safe and healthy for my family. Another bonus is that I can still order online and do my shopping in my pajamas! :)

In signing up again, I was also introduced to the home based business aspect of this company. Because Mark was already signed up when we got married, I hadn't heard too much about how easy it was too have my own business at home. Well, now I know, and we have decided to supplement our income a bit (or hopefully a lot!) by starting our own home based business! I can do as much as I want or as little as I want or as time allows with our busy schedule. I can even do almost all of it using just my computer and phone!  If you would like to see a good video about it on YouTube, you can watch this one that I found. It has some great information.  I would love to help you find safer products for your family or help you easily earn money from your home.  Whether you are just interested in purchasing safe products for your home, starting your own home business, or both, please email me at mmtolsma at juno dot com and I can also give you more information.

Blessings,

Linked up with:
Changed By the Maker
Raising Homemakers
Far Above Rubies
The Better Mom
Teach Me Tuesdays
Titus 2sday
Women Living Well
A Delightful Home
Raising Arrows

I Love to Read!

If you haven't figured out yet from all my book reviews, I really love to read.  When I was younger and before I had kids, I read TONS of books.  After having kids, I really slowed down.  The obvious reason being that I didn't have as much time for it.   Another reason though, was that I just didn't get to the library as often for books.  Not the adult section anyway.  We do get to the library about once a week, but have you ever tried taking four young kiddos into the adult section and expected them to stand quietly while you browse for books?  It just doesn't happen.  If they aren't pulling out books or tearing pages out of magazines, they are pushing buttons on the computers or climbing on chairs to look out the windows!  Once in a while I remember to request a book and have it ready for me, but for the most part I gave up my reading time and figured I could start again when they are older.

But, enter the world of technology!  Last spring, my wonderful hubby surprised me with a Kindle when I was laid up with my kidney stones.  I have read more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years!  I really didn't think I would like using an electronic reader, but it has turned out to be better than I expected.  There are tons of books on Amazon that can be sent right to my Kindle.  I think that I have close to 200 on there right now.  You're probably thinking that they are too expensive and then you still have to buy the books to read.  Well, the initial investment of the reader is pricey, but Christmas is coming. :) Amazon recently released newer versions of the Kindle and they are quite a bit cheaper than they used to be.  And once you have that, you can get all kinds of free books.  I haven't paid for a single one of mine.  Amazon has a large free section and also will have special books free for a certain time.  I have found a site at No Ordinary Moments that is regularly updated with some of these free ones, usually Christian ones.  So unless you are looking for a certain book, you can get all kinds of free stuff to read.  I don't know about your library, but ours has recently started lending electronic books too, so that is another place to borrow for free.

If you still don't want an electronic reader, I have also found that purchasing books online is another great way to get books for a great deal.  There are lots of sites that have great books and often offer discouts and specials.  One of my new favorite places is Vision Forum. They have a great selection of Christian books that are so good for building up your home and family (and they also have tons of other fun stuff!).  I love looking up their deal of the day everyday, just to see if it might be something fun the kids would love for their next birthday or Christmas.  Currently they are having some amazing giveaways that you can check out HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE.

If you don't want to purchase new books or are looking for a place to get rid of your old books, PaperbackSwap is a great site.  The way it works is that you send books you have to people that request them (you pay the shipping which is usually around $2) and then you get a credit.  You can use your credit to request books from others and they will send them to you for free!  I have been using this site to get most of the books we use in homeschool to help bring down the costs of curriculum and it has been working out great so far! Swap Books for Free - PaperBackSwap.com

If you love reading too, hopefully this has helped inspire you to find ways to fit it in even if you have kiddos climbing all over you while you do. :)

Get Swagging! {You Could Earn $300!!!}

I am just a few Swagbucks away from cashing in for my 60th $5 Amazon.com gift card.  That's $300!!! And it was all for free!  The Amazon gift cards are good for anything on Amazon, so I have gotten some great stuff for free or very cheap. Comes in handy around birthdays and Christmas time. ;)  Swagbucks also has loads of other prizes you can redeem your bucks for too.  What are you waiting for? Go check out how you can earn free stuff too!

Cleaning A Gas Stove

I love cooking with my gas stove.  I grew up with it and when I had to use electric when we first got married, I had a hard time getting used to it.  I was very happy to have it once again in our current home. One thing I hate though is trying to clean the metal grates and pans.  With as much cooking as I do, it is inevitable that things will get spilled or splattered on them.  And then when it gets cooked on, it sure doesn't want to come off.  I am a little embarrassed to show you this picture, but this is what my stove looked like a couple days ago. 

 Some of that is fresh and would scrub off, but most of that is pretty well stuck on.  I have spent hours (literally) and tried every cleaner I could think of the try get them clean, all with no success.  Until today, that is!  I came across a very handy tip last week, gave it a try, and now my stove looks like this:

Amazing!  And hardly any scrubbing was involved!  Want to know this amazing trick so your stove can sparkle too? :)  Ammonia is the answer.  With little kids in the house, I don't normally keep ammonia around, but I ran out to get some just for this.  All you have to do is put the grate in a gallon zip lock bag along with 1/4 cup ammonia, seal it up, and let it sit overnight.  (I recommend putting it out in the garage or on your deck.) The fumes from the ammonia will do all the work for you and in the morning, all you have to do is wipe it off!  A couple of the most stubborn spots took a little elbow grease, but for the most part, it all came off so easy!  Now you too can have a sparkling clean stove!

Frugal Friday

As you may remember from my shampoo experiment, I love to find ways to save money.  (By the way, I am still using the baking soda & vinegar and it is still going great!)  Awhile back I experimented with making my own dishwasher soap and although it was cheaper, it didn't clean worth beans.  I was constantly having to rewash dishes and so I figured wasting my time wasn't worth the money savings and I went back to my dishwasher tabs.

Recently, however, I have found a way to cut the price in half!  Did you know that you can cut the tabs in half and get two loads out of one?!? And it works just as well.  I have been cutting them in half for a while now and still rarely have to rewash a dish!  I would recommend cutting (knife or scissors equally work well)them while they are still in the package because they get kinda crumbly as you cut and can make a mess.  That way you can just dump half the package in the dishwasher, crumbs and all.

Tasty Tuesday ~ Homemade Vanilla

Did you know you could make your own vanilla?  It's really easy.  The hardest part is buying the vodka that you will need. But if you send your hubby, then there is no hard part. ;)  All you need is vodka and vanilla beans.  The amount of both will determine how strong your vanilla is.  This  is the first time that I've tried it and I used a bottle of vodka (750 mL) and put in seven vanilla beans which is all that I could fit in the bottle.  You will need to slice open the beans length wise before you put them in.

Then just shake it up and put it in a dark place for 4-6 months.  You should shake it up every once in a while.  Then after you have patiently waited for what seems like forever, strain your vanilla through a coffee filter in a colander and then you are ready to go! Mine turned out a little on the weak side compared to the pure vanilla that I bought from Costco, so next time I will probably use a few more beans and put it all in a bigger jar. If you make it really strong (like 20 beans in 750mL) then you will only need to use about 1/2 of what the recipe calls for.  If you like using real vanilla, this will save you a ton of money because real vanilla is pricey! 

Curing An Ear Infection Naturally

I know this is an odd post to write in the middle of summer and especially when most of the country is in the middle of a heat wave.  But it seems that global warming has forgotten our little corner of the world and it still feels like the middle of spring here.  Our neighbors have been pumping water out of their blueberry and potato fields for the past week!  And since the weather is crummy, my kids thought they would help contribute to the overall crumminess (is that a word?) of our wet summer and get colds.  So on Friday, I wasn't too surprised when Sweetie told me her ear hear really bad.  The last thing I want to do on a Friday however is go to the doctor's office.  I've made that mistake before.  So I hopped on the wonderful world wide web to see if there was anything I could try at home first.  I figured there had to be something people used years ago before they could just run to the doctor like we can now, right?  So I found quite a few sites that had natural remedies using garlic and olive oil.  This site was the most helpful with quite a list of things I could try.  I didn't have any fresh garlic on hand, but I did have olive oil and lavender essential oil.  So I tried mixing a drop of the lavender in about 20 drops of oil, putting a couple drops in Sweetie's ear and then massaging it in.  Within 1/2 an hour she said her ear was all better!  I was amazed!  Since most of the other kids had all the makings for developing ear infections, I headed to the store for some fresh garlic, since that seems like it is the most effective option. 

And it was a good move, because on Saturday night, Sweetie's ear hurt again and on Monday morning, Lovebug said his ear hurt.  Both times I heated a clove of garlic in a little olive oil, placed a couple drops in their ears, and massaged it.  And both times it was gone within an hour!  Hopefully this means no more doctor visits and antibiotics for ear infections for us!  (Disclaimer: I am not a health care professional.  I am only sharing what worked for us.  Please do your own research or consult your doctor to make your own decisions on treating your children!)

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Healthy 2day Wednesday

A Sour Deal!

Check out this great deal I scored at the discount bin this week! 

A huge bag of lemons and limes for only $2.50!  You are probably wondering why I would want that much sour fruit, right?  Well, I often come across recipes that call for some lemon or lime zest and I rarely have any since I don't often remember to buy lemons and limes. I don't want to run to the store just for one or two (or for anything if I can help it!) and then just use part of the peel, so I like to grate off a bunch of the zest.

Then squeeze out the juice.

And then freeze the juice in an ice cube tray, and put the zest and the frozen cubes into freezer bags to keep in the freezer.  When I need a little zest or juice I can just pull out what I need, let it unthaw, and it is ready to go!

Grocery Shopping in My Pajamas

I really dislike having to go to the grocery store.  Unless I can go by myself.  But having 4 kids pretty much makes that impossible unless I go late at night and I would much rather go to bed than the store.  So I have found a few sites online that have pretty much solved my problem and now I can do most of my grocery shopping in my pajamas (not that I really sit around in my pajamas all that often)!  I also think that shopping online helps me save money, because then I buy only what I need/what's on my list instead of seeing stuff at the store and being temped to buy stuff I don't really need! For those of you who prefer to stay home than haul all your kiddos through the store, I thought I would share with you my favorite sites.
First up is Amazon.  Did you know that Amazon has a whole grocery section?  Well, it does!  I especially like their subscribe and save option, which can make some really good deals.  I also love to use my Amazon gift cards that I earn using Swagbucks to get stuff even cheaper!  A lot of things have free shipping also.
Next is Alice.  It can have some pretty good deals on stuff and is usually very comparable in price to the stores.  You have to purchase at least 6 things, but shipping is always free!  One of the things they have that I always order is Rockin' Green laundry detergent, the detergent I use for my cloth diapers.  Most other stores have a hefty shipping charge since it is heavy, but not Alice.com! (And if you sign up through my referral link, you will get a $10 credit once you spend $50!)
My other main shopping site is Azure Standard.  They have a huge variety of stuff including fresh produce and frozen and refrigerated items.  This is more like a co-op though and doesn't ship directly to my house.   They have a set route with drop points and I happen to live only about 2 miles from our drop point.  This is still much easier than going to the store because everything is boxed together and ready to be loaded into the car.  If you like to buy organic, a lot of the stuff they carry is organic and still cheaper than non-organic at the grocery store!  They do have a drop-point and individual order minimums, so check out their site to see if there is already a drop-point near you or how to get one set up.
Costco is still one store that I need to go to, but it would be so nice if they would set-up a Click-n-Pull like Sam's Club does!
Do you shop online?  What are your favorite stores?

Old Jeans Turned Rice Bag

My hubby goes through jeans like you wouldn't believe.  But he rarely wears them out.  Somehow he usually manages to catch them on something and rip a large unrepairable hole in them.  And then he sews them up with baling twine and gets a few more uses out of them.  (Baling twine is like duct tape, you can fix just about anything with it!)

Since the hole is usually around the pockets or zipper areas, the legs are still in great condition.  After throwing out a few ripped pairs, I thought there must be something I can do with these and began saving some of them.  One day I ran across a tutorial for making rice bags to heat up and I thought to myself wouldn't the leg of one of those jeans be perfect for that?  I finally got around to trying it out and thought I would share it with you!

First you will need to cut off one of the legs as close to the back pocket as you can get.

My first attempt was to just sew the bottom closed and then fill with rice.  Unless you have a super strong needle in your sewing machine though, you will break your needle sewing through the seams. (Just ask me how I know that!)  So instead I cut the seams off to get two pieces like this:

Next you will need to put the pieces together, right sides facing each other, and sew 3 sides closed.  You will have a long tube with one of the short ends open.  Turn it right side out and dump in about 1 cup of rice.  Then you will sew across the tube to keep the rice in about a 4 inch section.

Keep adding a cup of rice and sewing across until you get to the end of your tube.  If you want all the sections the same size, you can measure and mark them before you add the rice, but I just eye-balled it and they all turned out fairly close to the same size.  Then just tuck the end inside and sew across one final time.

On the next cold night, just pop it in the microwave for about 5 minutes and then tuck it into your bed to keep you toes toasty warm!

I made one for each of the kids and they love having them in their beds at night to keep warm!  I also used a few 6 inch square scraps to make a couple hand warmers.

So I made a small dent in my pile of ripped jeans.  Any other good suggetions?

Please check out all the blogs I link to HERE.

The No Shampoo Experiment

I've started a new experiment yesterday. I have decided to quit using shampoo. No that doesn't mean I am going to smell and not be clean (at least I hope not!) I have come across quite a few bloggers lately that are trying the no shampoo experiment, mostly because of all the weird ingredients in shampoo, but some to save money. Well, I'm Dutch and saving money is something I am always looking to do, so I was a little interested. I did a little research and found a few helpful websites including this one and this one on making your own shampoo.

Here is what you will need:

Yep, that's it. Pretty cheap, huh? That's what I thought, so I thought it was worth a try. All you need to do is dissolve 1 Tbsp of baking soda in 1 cup of warm water and apply to your scalp. Let it sit for a minute and then rinse it out. Then do the same with the apple cider vinegar. I have to say, I thought the vinegar was kind of a weird one, but it is an amazing detangler. I am going to start using that for Sweetheart as well since it is always so hard to comb through her hair after we wash it. Yesterday was the first day I tried it, so I haven't noticed a huge difference yet. I normally wash my hair every other day, and on the day I don't wash it, it can be kinda flat. Today, however, I think that it still feels and looks fuller. Hopefully that is a good sign that things will keep going well, but I will try to remember to update you all in a few weeks and let you know how it is going! If you are interested in trying for yourself and want to know more about what's in your shampoo (instead of just doing it to be cheap!) you can check out this site to see how your current shampoo and conditioners rate.