GREEN HOUSE CLEANERS

The best Christmas present ever is causing me problems! Researching green house cleaners (actually house cleaning services not the products) has now been added to my VERY long "to do" list. I'm ashamed to say that I knuckled and bumped it to the top. I did so out of selfishness and more than a healthy dose of the need for assistance in digging through the after holiday clutter and confusion.

Before my awakening to the dangers of household cleaning products I might have called the first commercial cleaning service with an impressive ad in the yellow pages. But now I want to know more about what will be left behind after my merry little helpers leave my home.

Here are some questions that I plan to ask all of the green house cleaners that I call.

1. Does your company use commercial chemical free products or do you make your own out of baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and the like? If you buy your green cleaning
   products can you give me the name of the company?
   
   
2. Are you bonded? I don't have a lot of valuable stuff but I like to know I'm covered because once upon a time (pre-babies) I had a decorator that dropped a hammer on my brand new Kohler toilet while hanging pictures and found out the hard way that she was not insured.
   
   
3. Do you hire workers or are your cleaning professionals co-owners of the company? I like the idea of the owner polishing my furniture.
   
   
4. Will the green house cleaners who visit my home have GREEN cards and speak English? I would prefer that there be no illegals in my house and I want to be able to communicate my needs as we go, if you please.
   
   
5. What kind of vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaner filters do you use? If it's not HEPA, it's not happening in my house.
   
   
6. What do you charge and do you do windows? Even though I won't be paying the green house cleaning crew for several visits, I want to know that once I'm fully and completely addicted to having help that I can afford to keep it coming.
   
   

I'm just starting the process of interviewing green house cleaners and I have to make my phonecalls during naptime so it could take awhile but right off the bat I'm pleased to report that there are quite a few household and commercial cleaning services that advertise that their cleaning products are environmentally safe and chemical free.

That's encouraging, but we all know that talk's cheap and they are going to have to prove their claims to me before I let them in the door. If you have questions about who gets the job of becoming my environmentally friendly house cleaners, I'll probably be posting about them on Family Recipes, Babies and Green Parenting Issues in the next few weeks.

Where to Donate Used Stuffed Animals

I'm on a house cleaning mission and wondering where to donate used stuffed animals? After what will be forever remembered as the Christmas asthma attack of 2009, I've dedicated every free moment to ferreting out every possible irritant and allergy trigger in the house including all but the kids' most beloved plush toys that are worth all the trouble it takes to keep them dust mite free. I always try to recycle my kids' toys after Christmas, but this year I'm especially focused.

I know I could take the whole kit and kaboodle and leave them in the Salvation Army dumpster, but by conducting a little research I have found some answers to the question of where to donate used stuffed animals where they will do the most good.

Here are a few places that I'm going to locate and contact to see if will accept these toys or if they don't they might know of where to donate stuffed animals for children in need.

1. SAFE (Stuffed Animals For Emergencies) is at the top of my list if I can locate a chapter near us. A friend told me that this organization collects new as well as used toys and stuffed animals. If I can find one, this is the answer to my prayers because the volunteers take care of distributing the items to children's homes, hospitals and emergency organizations like fire, ambulance and rescue services where the items are used to comfort children. The SAFE website is stuffedanimalsforemergencies.org.
   
   
2. Homeless shelters are next on my list of where to donate used stuffed animals.
   
   

Where to donate used stuffed animals. by state:

ARIZONA - CALIFORNIA - OHIO

If you live in Arizona, California and Ohio you might want to check out Project Night Night. This organization creates and donates tote bags for homeless children ages 0-10 that contain a blanket, a book and a stuffed animal. At this time, their website says they only have drop-off locations in those three states, but we can only pray that they expand.

FLORIDA

Floridian families can contact Mushy Mates to donate their used stuffed animals to foster children and other needy kids. This non-profit group is based in Florida but helps children in all states and I've also heard that they accept donations from all 50 states but I'm unclear as to the process. Maybe somebody can respond and help us out with some details?

Mushy Mates works with case workers to get the toys to the foster children. You can also donate money as well as toys to any of their local foster care agencies, family homeless shelters or battered women's shelters and it's probably a good idea to mention the Mushy Mates' charity by name. If you have questions, you can contact Mushy Mates by email at MushyMates at MushyMates.com.


If you have any more tips on where to donate used stuffed animals, please return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues and share them.

Is My Baby Allergic to Dogs

I have never stopped to wonder is my baby allergic to dogs because her allergies included all the common irritants like peanuts, cat hair and dairy. Her allergist never mentioned a dog allergy so I assumed that this was the one animal oriented area that we may have gotten lucky.

However, we learned over the holidays that this was not to be. As I look back the last post was made while I had images of creating a lovely holiday meal dancing in my head. Sick of leftover turkey, my goal was to come up with dishes with a fresh, new taste, something that the whole family would enjoy and that would not trigger any of the kids' many allergies.

Then, while neck deep in recipes printed off the internet one of our college friends came to visit with a new puppy in tow. Needless to say that the girls went crazy over the cute little guy. I was letting them all visit and entertain each other when my friend comes rushing into the kitchen asking is my baby allergic to dogs.

I could tell she was excited and when I saw my little one, I knew we were in a bit of trouble. Her face was red and her breathing indicated she might be in for an asthma attack. Thanks to quick treatment with her meds, all quieted down. But you can bet that I'm scheduling an appointment with her allergy specialist to see for sure is my baby allergic to dogs or was there a chemical or perhaps grass on the dog's hair that triggered the allergic reaction.

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see if it was flea powder or dog hair that created these symptoms.

Christmas Menu Ideas

Hey everybody, I'm open to some new and interesting Christmas menu ideas if you happen to have any lying around. I made a huge pan of southern cornbread dressing using my family's traditional recipe for Thanksgiving with all the usual trimmings including a large cheesecake for those who don't fully appreciate sweet potato pie or banana pudding.

Plus, we had enough turkey to feed our large group, have turkey sandwiches for a week and then boil it for a big pot of turkey carcass soup. My nieces and nephews cringe at the word "carcass" so if you have any suggestions for renaming my favorite leftover turkey recipe I will consider them.

My problem is that after eating one creative leftover turkey recipe after another for several weeks, the idea of baking another one so soon is not so appealing to me and my husband actually turned a lovely shade of green awhile ago when I mentioned it. His Christmas menu idea is to buy rib eye steaks, potatoes and salad fixings and let that be it; he even offered to be the cook! Whoa, now that's hard to resist but I can feel all my ancestors in the background threatening to haunt me if I'm lazy enough to cave.

We are not big fans of ham around here so I need Holiday recipes that don't use ham and Christmas menu ideas that will keep both my living and departed family members happy!

Parenting Styles

I had an excellent opportunity to get a good look at my siblings parenting styles over Thanksgiving and I'm certain that I'll get another taste during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. I'm one to resist spewing parenting advice to others for the simple reason that no matter what the kids do at home, there is really no way of knowing what they will do when they are in public.

Long story short, Thursday night I broke my own rule of not becoming involved. No, one of the cousins did not whack one of my girls on the head or try to sneak peanuts to my baby with a severe peanut allergy. The little darling disrespected my mom's home.

I didn't lose control and even managed not to criticize my sister's severely relaxed parenting style but I just could not keep my mouth shut. She was raised in the same house as I was with the same values and to see her let her child get away with a level of destructive behavior that we never would have been caught dead practicing under the darkest cover of darkness or under a cloak of anonymity, much less in the middle of a family gathering in full daylight was just too much.

To give you some background, mom has had the same living room furniture all my life. On her birthday we pooled our resources and bought her a new set of end tables and a coffee table challenging dad to buy a sofa, chair and loveseat which he did. Thursday was her day to show the completed room off and you could tell that she was so very proud.

I reminded my girls to mind their manners and keep food at the table and to play outside as did all of my brothers and sisters EXCEPT for the one who believes in a loose and indulgent style of parenting. Things started out alright and then her little boy got rowdy and thought it was a good idea to stand on the coffee table, jump on the new sofa and break a lamp. After each incident, the expected admonishment never arrived.

Finally, after the lamp crashed to the floor. I took matters into my own hands and told the little boy to get outside with the other children and pulled my sister aside to give her a piece of my mind. She proceeded to give me a rundown of her preferred style of child-rearing and how she wanted her child to have freedom to make his own choices to build his self-esteem. Parenting styles and self esteem be hanged, that was my mother's house and I shared a piece of my mind and shared a little unappreciated advice with her on how to discipline her son.

Was I wrong in the way I handled the situation? I would appreciate it if those of you who visit Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues would give me a little advice before the family Christmas get-together.

Thanksgiving Time Savers

One of the best Thanksgiving time savers that I put to work yesterday (and the day before) would make my great-grandmother's head spin backwards. Yeah, I was raised to believe that it was a sin or at the very least something to be embarrassed about if the can opener came into play at any time during the preparation of the holiday feast.

The rest of the year, the dancing glove was the enemy but on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter canned goods were left in the cabinet or better yet, the grocery store. The exception was, of course, something that you had canned yourself in a Mason jar.

This year, with all of the stress and extra workload in keeping the house disinfected so that everybody won't get MRSA that doesn't already have it, I bit the bullet and took a few shortcuts. And I have to tell you that of all the heretofore forbidden Thanksgiving time savers, canned chicken broth was the absolute BEST!

Led to believe that the taste of canned broth was easily detected when compared to homemade, I had never experimented with it. Under the gun this year, I forgot to buy a hen and simmer it to have my broth ready to make the dressing and gravy. After a quick and surreptitious dash to the grocery before lunch, six cans of Sweet Sue saved the day. The empty cans were bagged, hidden and buried in the dumpster and NOBODY said a thing about any of the recipes having a slightly "off" flavor.

Not having to make room in the refrigerator to store the homemade broth alone probably saved me an hour! That may not sound like much but on a busy holiday, every hour counts.

I would be curious to know if you discovered any Thanksgiving time savers that you might want to share. As for me, you can bet that I've got six more cans of this stuff on my grocery list to have on hand for Christmas. Am I proud that I jumped in and did what I had to do to make Thanksgiving dinner a success? You bet I am! Am I going to tell my grandmother what I did? Well, no. In fact, the canned broth is written in code on my grocery list and I plan to hide the cans in the trunk of the car. Will I be found out? You will have to return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see more Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday time savers and to see if anybody outs me.

FAMILY TRADITIONS

Digging through my recipe box, what I have in my hands is a box of family traditions. Some of the cards are so stained that I can hardly read them but because the instructions and ingredients are in my grandmother’s handwriting, the thought that someday I will have no choice but to discard them breaks my heart. Each creased and dog-eared rectangle is soaked in memories.

And with each passing day, I appreciate more and more the importance of family traditions. It gives me pause to think what part of our lives that my girls are storing away in their minds that will be remembered in their adult lives. Somehow I know that what might strike them as memorable and important may not be the things that I regard as profound. I can already tell that from talking to my niece who is slightly older than my oldest daughter. I will ask her if she remembers this or that day that is crystal clear in my mind’s eye only to find that she has no recollection of the events whatsoever.

What I am counting on is that as my baby girls get older and find themselves in difficult or upsetting circumstances that they will have comforting memories of a stable childhood to bring them comfort. What I’m doing to foster these memories is keeping variety to a minimum especially when it comes to the holidays. My basic Thanksgiving and Christmas menu will always include certain dishes with a few experimental dishes on the side because I believe that repetition is the key to family traditions.

My sister and I have a standing joke about how every year until we left home mom and dad decorated shoeboxes with aluminum foil to hold oranges, apples and nuts supposedly left by Santa. It worries me that my girls will remember this coming Christmas as the one when dad was so sick and mom was worn out and worried. This thought has put my wheels in motion to focus on building fun holiday family traditions that will overshadow their dad’s current health crisis.

Before the season get in full swing, I’m organizing my favorite family recipes and making a list of fun holiday traditions from my own childhood that I want my daughters to enjoy. I’m not going to put a lot of pressure on myself to decorate the house like I’m trying to win “Home of the Year” or buy tickets to every holiday production within a 100 mile radius but I am going to do my best to keep it fun and keep Christ in Christmas. And I am not going to repeat my mother’s mistake of forcing Christmas stuff on my girls. One funny memory I have is mom telling us to get ourselves dressed and get in the car before we completely ruined everything and that we were going to LOVE the Nutcracker whether we liked it or not!

Come back later to see my list of Fun Holiday Family Tradtions that I come up with and please feel free to leave some suggestions for me in case I come up short.

SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPE

My family sweet potato pie recipe is soul food at its best. It's delicious, nutritious (so long as you don't mind sugar with your Vitamin A) and sitting down for a slice with your loved ones or even all by yourself with a good cup of coffee is definitely good for the soul.

Southern Sweet Potato Pie Video.

Just to let you know this is a truly SOUTHERN style recipe. It's not fluffy but firm. I use Pet evaporated milk not condensed milk and i am not sure why anybody would want to make it any other way. I'm sure there are other recipes that are delicious but if I tried to change a single ingredient or do something like add pecans or walnuts, I expect that I would have a redneck rebellion on my hands.

MY SOUTHERN SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPE
10 cups thinly sliced sweet potatos
1/2 stick of butter or Blue Bonnet Margarine
2/3 cup plain white flour
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 tsp of ground nutmeg
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/2 cup Pet Evaporated Milk (or however much it takes to make the mixture the same consistency as cake batter)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 deep dish pie shells (unbaked)

Cover sliced sweet potatos with water in a large boiler. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook till potatos are soft which should take about 45 minutes give or take a few. Before you remove from the fire, take a test slice and mash to be sure it is "mashable" without leaving lumps. When soft and ready, drain well in a colander and return potatos to the large boiler.

Mash margarine and potatos together till margarine is melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the Pet milk until blended. (if you were looking for condensed milk you are looking for something other than my family sweet potato pie recipe, my friend).

In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon mixing well. Pour this mixture on top of potato mixture and mix till well blended. Add one egg at a time mixing well after each. Last of all add the vanilla and stir.

Pour everything into 2 unbaked, deep dish pie shells.

Bake about 1 hour in a preheated 350 degree oven until the centers are firm.

PIE BAKING TIPS:
To keep the entire sweet potato pie recipe from ending up on the bottom of a hot oven and ruining your day, I put the filled pie shells on baking sheets and not directly on the oven racks.

To keep the edges of the pie shell from getting burned, I put strips of aluminum foil around the edges before I load the pies in the oven.

This is an OLD SOUTHERN FAMILY sweet potato pie recipe. Before my great grandmother passed away I made her give me approximate measurements for the ingredients and instructions. I am still amazed at how consistent her pies were considering that she never used a recipe book and did all of her baking on a wood stove.

I'm going to share more soul food recipes that I'm thinking of including on my Thanksgiving dinner menu, so y'all come back now!

Wound Care

We are still making trips back and forth to the hospital for wound care for E's MRSA. Blood was drawn yesterday and the white blood count is too high still for the poor guy to be taken off the antibiotic drip. I'm not sure what the plan is at this point because according to the doctor he was hoping for a much better response by now. This is confusing to me because I had read a report that MRSA actually kills white blood cells so I'm making a note to ask the doctor about this.

The huge wounds left from the incisions that were made when the boils, carbuncles or abscesses (wound care nurses have called them all of the above, so I'm not sure which he had or if he had all three) were lanced are still very sore but are slowly closing.

The largest wound was 8 inches in length and 3 inches deep after surgery. This woun care for this one has been a nightmare. Keeping a dressing on it is a challenge and not surprisingly, it is extremely painful. Yesterday, as part of the treatment the nurser used a scalpel to cut the sides so that she could start to pull the sides of the incision together for it to heal. She then put steri-strips on it to pull it closed. Needless to say this was a very painful visit and E was exhausted and went straight to bed when we got him home.

SWINE FLU SYMPTOMS

I'm happy to post that after a long haul, the swine flu symptoms are on the decline around my house. Another happy dance that I'm willing to do is in celebration of the fact that for some odd reason that I'm the only one in the family that got sick.

One of the comments that I got was from a visitor who asked me how I knew that I had the swine flu and not your garden variety seasonal flu virus. The answer to that question is that I do not know for certain because as bad as I felt, I never felt the need to visit the emergency room or for that matter to even contact our doctor for antiviral medications. The reasons that I suspected H1N1 was because I had gotten my regular flu shot weeks earlier.

If I had gotten sick a few weeks earlier, the first thing I would have done would have been to call my doctor to get a prescription for tamiflu. But do you remember my post on how to remove a tick last month? Well, while talking to a medical professional about that I squeezed in some questions about whether or not to get the swine flu vaccine should it become available AND I did my best to talk him into prescribing Tamiflu ahead of the game which failed. He said that unless the seasonal or swine flu symptoms became severe that he would not use the antivirals.
He seemed knowledgeable on the subject so I weathered it out. I ran fever for several consecutive days but here I am now none the worse for wear.

Dear hubby on the other hand has had it tough with the MRSA but I'll be back later with the latest information on that and thanks to all of you that are praying for his recovery.

SWINE FLU and MRSA

I’m here to tell you that the swine flu and MRSA infections are a painful match. My family is exhausted and while I feel that every day brings me a little relief from the symptoms, there are moments when I feel that I’m about to relapse...big time.


Of all times for the only adult male in the house to have a full blown MRSA episode this is not a great time and perhaps one of the worst. To give you some background that illness has kept me from sharing, the man of the house has had a little accident that has left him with some cuts and scrapes which at first seemed to be no big deal.


Moms who have been with me for awhile know that my baby (who has asthma and food allergies) got MRSA during a hospital stay. Well, a few days after daddy’s minor accident it is now clear that those abscesses, that we are all too familiar with, are starting to pop up in practically every place that he was scratched. One of them in particular is very painful and nasty, so I see rounds of antibiotics for our family in the future as a preventative measure.


Meanwhile, I’m on about day 5 of the swine flu and weak as a kitten with a houseful of kids and a sick man with a staph infection. The universe is being terribly unfair to dish out a case of the swine flu and MRSA in one single dose. More later, I’m off to scrape up some recipes made from as many anti-viral foods as I can find in the cabinets.

DO YOU THINK THERE IS TOO MUCH VIOLENCE ON TV

I just got off the phone with a mom who asked me, "Do you think there is too much violence on TV?" Would you like to know what my knee jerk reaction to this question was? Well, since you asked so nicely I will tell you that I almost replied that there was nothing BUT violence on television.

The only reason that I bit my tongue and tempered my remarks was that I realized that I would be wrong because there is some excellent kids' programming available. Sure, some of it is terrible and sets a very poor example for children. And the fact that "Reading Rainbows" has been cancelled hacked me off to no end. But there are a few shows that I let the kids watch.

It's when I go searching for something for my husband and me to watch after the kids go to bed that I can give a definite affirmative answer to the question "Do you think there is too much violence on TV?" Because where adult programming is concerned you have a choice of goofy sitcoms, crime shows, talk shows or reality (oh please) television. Oh yes, and my husband's favorite, sports which I place in the "violent" category much to his dismay.

I have come to the conclusion that if you want to watch something uplifting to clear your head before bedtime, you are just out of luck! Murder, mangled bodies and mayhem do not a bedtime story make.

Every mom I talk to has the same complaint so why is this stuff still being crammed down our throats? I want to know what demographic likes to go to bed with visions of corpses dancing in their heads?

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see what kind of answers I get to the question.

PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE with CANNED PUMPKIN

I would rather use pumpkin that I process myself but I have kept a pumpkin bread recipe with canned pumpkin handy for those times when I need to whip up a batch and don't have any pumpkins around.

J CLAIRE'S PUNKIN BREAD
3 cups of sifted plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or allspice
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 cup Crisco or 2 sticks of margarine
1 tsp of baking soda
2 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
(1) 1 pound can of pumpkin

Line two small coffee cans with waxed paper without poking holes in the paper or leaving seams where your bread batter can leak through.

Sift the flower, salt, baking power, baking soda and spices together.

Cream Crisco or your softened sticks of margarine gradually adding sugar as you cream till fluffy.

Add one egg at a time to sugar mixture beating well after each.

Stir in vanilla flavoring.

Add dry ingredients to the creamed sugar mixture alternately with dollops of canned pumpkin beating after each addition.

Stir in chopped nuts. You can use pecans or walnuts in your pumpkin bread recipe but I can't have either because of baby's allergy to tree nuts.

Pour equal amounts into each wax paper lined coffee can or a wax paper lined bundt cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.


I might catch some flack from my visitors for posting this recipe for several reasons, like the fact that my bread has LOTS of calories, using canned pumpkin instead of fresh and for saying that I use a coffee can as a cake pan. I will address these issues in order:

1. I already explained why this easy bread recipe calls for canned pumpkin. It's handy and a timesaver and I believe the vitamin benefits are the same as fresh but don't quote me on that.
   
   
2. This bread is not low calorie and I'm not trying to pass it off as such. It's a guilty pleasure that should be limited unless you want to move up to the next clothing size.
   
   
3. My mom always made her pumpkin bread recipe with canned pumpkin baked in two small coffee cans that had been greased and lined with wax paper. It was fun and I don't believe it presents any possible health problems.
   

RECYCLING BABY STUFF

I’m all for recycling baby stuff not only to keep the landfills from spilling over but to save money. Not willing to be penny rich and pound poor or spend a dime to save a nickel or vice versa, I bought quality baby clothes and shoes for my first daughter in gender neutral (well most of the time) styles.

Knowing that there would be more little ones coming down the pike (odd name for a vagina, right?) and that I could reap huge financial benefits by using these items to dress, feed and entertain more than one newborn. Some of my efforts were more rewarding than others, but for the most part I was very successful in saving lots of money especially on items necessary for baby’s first year in the nursery.

Here are some ideas for recycling baby stuff that worked best for me. Of course the amount of your savings may vary depending on the sex of your babies and how far apart they were born.

RECYCLING TIPS
1.Save those gowns and footed sleepers. You can never have too many to change into after a spit up or a diaper failure. Stains don’t matter and the cotton fabric gets softer and more comfortable with each trip through the laundry.

2.My girls’ used crib shoes and socks still look brand new even after being worn by three babies. If you know how much soft soled leather baby shoes cost you know that this is a very good example of saving money by recycling baby stuff. One caution that I would add is to be sure that you store them in a dry place between births as I lost a couple of pairs to mold (or was it mildew) when I put them in a cardboard box on the floor of the closet.

3.Strollers and baby beds are expensive and big money savers so long as you keep up with recalls. I actually came out alright by selling mine and buying newer models used for my second and third baby when storage space at my house was scarce. I didn’t feel guilty because by buying used, I was still recycling baby stuff and keeping it out of the junkyard.

BABY STUFF THAT MIGHT NOT BE WORTH RECYCLING
1.Stained outfits were a real downer for me (other than sleepwear). I had more fun shopping yard sales for used baby clothes that were in good shape and friends gave me some free baby stuff that had never been used at all that they had lying around that was too good to throw away but that didn't fit their child.

2.My nursery decorations for each girl were not expensive, but I wanted fresh, new bedding and decorative items rather than crumpled stuff out of a trunk.

3.Check the date on your infant car seats as most car seats are considered unusable six years past the date of manufacture. Once again, keep updated on car seat safety recalls.

Those are just a few tips on recycling baby stuff and if you have some frugal and earth friendly ideas of your own to share please leave them in the comments section on Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues so that we all can do our part in improving our environment.

CHEMICAL FREE BABY PRODUCTS

Seeing a mom use anything BUT chemical free baby products and household cleaners is something I can get really worked up about. I can hardly believe my eyes when I go to another mom’s house and see poisonous chemicals in the bathroom and under the sinks.

So what if you have reliable cabinet door locks to keep baby from taking a swig right out of the bottle when you put the products within reach every time you clean the house? When harsh cleaners are used to clean the toilet there a risk of poisoning the thirsty family dog as well as the toddler who thinks the potty is a small and easily accessed bathtub. To avoid this situation in your home, do some research on using chemical free, natural toilet cleaners!

I’ve been exposed to my fair share of chemicals in my lifetime as most of us have. When I think of how much crap I’ve breathed into my lungs when helping clean the house on Saturdays it scares me to no end. I’m determined that my daughters are going to have a better start in life and know better than to release nasty chemicals into our water supply and to use natural household cleaners and natural pesticides whenever possible. Now is the time for the world to stand up and take notice that using natural based household cleaners and chemical free baby products is better for everyone.

I started out using chemical free baby products but I still see more than a few moms hanging on to brand names filled with stuff that (in my opinion) adults much less babies should never be exposed to. There are many green, chemical free baby products samples giveaways and lots of information posted on why fewer chemicals are better and it is our responsibility as parents to make the right decisions!

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to find more opinionated rants about the need to go green in our homes.

HOW TO REMOVE A TICK FROM A PERSON

We had an incident yesterday that required me to refresh myself on how to remove ticks from a human. Dear hubby had gone out in the field to dump some grass clippings and apparently picked up an unwanted hitchhiker and before I would commit to helping him out, I went in search of the best method of removing ticks. Here are some tick removal tips.

HOW TO REMOVE A TICK

Clean the area with rubbing alcohol and then with clean tweezers grab the tick as close to where it has attached itself to the skin as possible.
If you don’t have tweezers handy, avoid handling the tick with your bare hands. Once you have a good hold, pull it straight out of the skin with a firm, steady motion WITHOUT SQUEEZING THE TICK’S BODY. Crushing the critter’s bulbous little body will cause it to regurgitate its stomach’s disease causing contents. And friend, if there is anything more disgusting in this world than tick puke I can’t name it.
Once you have removed and destroyed the tick, go over the area once again with rubbing alcohol and when dry, dab on some bacitracin ointment. Our doctor says bacitracin (available without prescription) is better than Neosporin.

I have one suggestion on how to teach your kids how to remove ticks from a human being; let them practice on the family dog. Growing up in the country, I had to remove ticks from dogs all the time that they picked up running through the woods and I got really good at it. For all practical purposes knowing how to remove a tick from a human is the same as knowing how to remove ticks from dogs except for the fact that my daddy’s hunting dogs were nowhere near as squeamish as my husband!

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see if my patient feels that I did a good job or if (God forbid) the spot gets infected.

WHAT KIND OF YEAST TO MAKE WINE

I just accidentally deleted or rejected a comment asking what kind of yeast to make wine muscadine wine to be exact. I don't know if the would-be winemaker will check back here to get the answer to his or her winemaking question but just in case I wanted to leave a reply.

I'm told that you could use the same yeast that you might use to make bread, but the taste would be terrible but to be clear I've never tried it so I can't say. I would advise that you use specifically cultured yeast for winemaking. And that is a perfect example of things I wish that had been asked of the old folks before they passed on. I would have loved to be able to ask what kind of yeast was used to make muscadine wine in those days. I doubt seriously that my great-great grandmother had access to special ingredients; so what DID she use? My guess would be that in the old days they grew their own special cultures or just allowed the muscadines to ferment naturally without using yeast cultures.

As far as what what kind of yeast to make wine that we would use today, I have seen Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast recommended by people who say that it works great and is very cheap to use. If you don't have a home brewing supply store in your area, you can order it online. The only problem there is that I'm told most wine yeasts should be refrigerated until used and I'm not sure how that could be guaranteed in the mail.

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues if you have questions and I'll try to answer them.

BABY TREE FROG HALLOWEEN COSTUME GIVEAWAY

To draw attention to the shrinking habitat of the red eyed tree frog, I’m having a Baby frog Halloween costume giveaway contest! These bug eyed frogs have kind of become the poster child for saving the rain forests of the world if you have seen many posters advertising the need for action. This may be because their eyes make them look horrified and the organizations behind this very worthwhile movement know that WE SHOULD BE HORRIFIED that these priceless treasures are being destroyed at an alarming rate of speed.

There is another contest taking place that you can reach by following the link above that allows you to choose your own costume (if you win) from ANYTIMECOSTUMES.COM if dressing your baby like a tree frog is not what you had in mind for baby’s first time out Trick or Treating.

**GIVEAWAY RULES**


**MANDANTORY FOR 1 ENTRY**
– Comment on what you feel can or should be done to slow the destruction of the rainforest. Don’t forget to leave your contact information so that I can get in touch if you are the winner.

**ADDITIONAL ENTRIES**
– GET 2 ADDITIONAL ENTRIES BY FOLLOWING MY BLOG!

The winner of the free baby frog Halloween costume giveaway will be drawn on October 15th at Midnight and announced the following day. I will contact you and give the winner 2 days to contact me with shipping information. If the winner fails to contact me within this time frame, another winner will be drawn.


Just so you know, I won the costume that will be the prize in my blog’s baby frog Halloween costume giveaway and there was a no return or exchange policy attached to the freebie. When it didn’t fit my little one I was disappointed at first and then I had the idea of turning lemons into lemonade by offering another mom a free baby Halloween costume AND using the cute baby tree frog costume as an opportunity to talk about the disappearing rainforest.

FYI the red eyed frog is not considered to be an endangered species YET. But where will they go when the rainforest is gone?

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see more giveaways that give me a chance to rant and rave about the lack of attention being paid to the environment.

MUSCADINE WINE RECIPE

NO PESTICIDES USED!


Hubby said I should share our old-fashioned, southern muscadine wine recipe after I told him that I had posted Gran's muscadine cobbler recipe. I was reluctant to do so not because of its secret ingrediants or because it's acidic and you have to acquire a taste for it. I didn't post it because all of the kids would have been in big trouble if we had ever so much as whispered out loud that somebody in the family had made wine or anything alcoholic.


This recipe for muscadine wine will produce a sweet version. If you want your wine to have more kick to it, some people add vodka.

OLD FASHIONED MUSCADINE WINE RECIPE


8 quarts of muscadine Grapes
8 pounds of granulated sugar
4 quarts of warm spring water (un-chlorinated)
1 package of dry yeast

Wash the muscadines and then one by one, mash the grapes in your fingers.

Pour the sugar in the warm water and stir still dissolved. Dip out a small amount in a cup and dissolve the yeast and pour it back into the main mixture.

Pour the liquid over the mashed muscadines.

Stir the muscadine mixture every day for a week.

Strain into a crock or churn that can be sealed and let sit for six weeks.

Strain mixture again and put in jars with the lids screwed on very loosely for the first few days (about 3) so that there's no chance of the jars exploding (ask me how I know!).

Tighten the jar lids and store in the cellar or a cool place.

A LITTLE BIT OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
The south, as I'm sure you know from watching old timey movies, has a reputation for making moonshine whiskey. But what you might not know is that for every man who had a still and made "shine" there was probably a wife who sang in the choir every Sunday that may have helped in the process to raise a little money to feed her children. The enterprise was necessary but shameful at the time and in the south, if you had relatives who made whiskey it is not something that is discussed.

The one and only reason that my grandmother shared her muscadine wine recipe with me is because she believed in its medicinal properties. And as muscadine grapes contain as much if not more resveratrol than grapes, it seems that she was right.

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to find more of my family's favorite recipes.

NATURAL WAY TO KILL FIRE ANTS

Yesterday I needed a natural way to kill fire ants, preferably without the use of chemicals. After all the rain I could look out over the yard and see ant mounds everywhere! Before you recommend that I pick up some fire ant poison at the discount store I feel that I should remind you that I have four little girls who play in this same yard where those mounds have popped up like mushrooms and I don't like the idea of their running through chemical pesticide residue in their bare feet.

I knew from the start that their extermination would be a delicate balancing act. Fire ant stings could be deadly to my youngest and I will protect her at all cost but I don't want my babies exposed to pesticides in order to do so. What I needed was a fire ant mound destroyer that would leave no poisonous residue once the job was done. Because not only have they built mounds out in the yard but there are piles of ant dirt right next to the patio where we spend a lot of time as a family. These suckers have to go and if at all possible I was determined to make it happen using the most natural means available to me.


In my search of a natural way to kill fire ants, I came across some suggestions that seemed reasonable and some...not so much. And then there was one that looked like it would be downright fun! Would you care to guess which method I decided to try first? Being such a fan of family fun and all, you just had to know I'd choose the lighthearted way of bug extermination.

I'm going to use baking soda and vinegar to kill these red devil fire ants.

A NATURAL WAY TO KILL FIRE ANTS


The instructions I found said to pour baking soda all over the mound and poke as much as possible deep into the mound using a stick. EXTREME CAUTION is necessary to avoid attacking ants while you are poking soda into their mound. In fact, I recommend wearing tall, rubber boots for protection. I tried a skinny, wooden dowel rod first but ended up using my backup which was a straightened wire coat hanger but your experience may vary depending on your soil.

After the baking soda was in place the next step was to pour a gallon of vinegar over the mound making sure that it comes into contact with the soda to facilitate the desired reaction. That mound started to crackle and fizz like crazy. I saw dead fire ants everywhere. It seems that your elementary school science project would have done better to educate us on a natural way to kill fire ants without chemicals rather than be just a lame volcano spewing on the table for a minute. Did this kill the fire ant queen or will the mounds pop back up again?

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to find out!