What We've Been Up To!

A lot of new things have been going on in the Mccool Household.

First off, the chickens.

We absolutely LOVE having chickens, and believe it or not, they are so easy

to take care of.

Especially when you pay your 13 year old daughter to do all the work.

We started out with four, and four just wasn't enough, so we added seven more. Thats right sixteen!

Holy cow! or chicken.

On average, we get about ten to twelve eggs a day. Cool right!?

Since having chickens wasn't enough, I thought I would add a 

worm compost to the Homestead.

I have to be honest, taking care of worms is a lot harder than taking care of chickens.

The first day the worms arrived, the weather was horrible and temperatures were below 

zero.

My husband and I noticed the worms wasn't moving a whole lot and

since they are called red wigglers, they didn't look red or wiggly.

I thought maybe they needed some time to get adjusted.

Long story short! They froze to death!

And let me tell you! my house STUNK!

I tried to deny the smell because I wanted the worms to live.

I had to finally give in to the smell, I had to apologize to the neighbors kid that come overs 

to the house sometime about how I had worms and they died, and thats why the house stinks.

That makes me a cool mom right? The fact I like and play with worms? 

Or does that make me a creepy mom...who likes and plays with worms?

ANYWAY!

 What did I do?

Honey! MY WORMS ARE DEAD!!!

Like every good husband he dug in the compost dirt and got rid of all the dead worms.

A man after my own heart. I have to admit, I was a little sad every time he pulled out a 

dead worm, it was like a family pet had died or something and I had to snap out of it fast!

These are worms! for crying out loud! 

It's a good thing I didn't name all two thousand of them or we would of had to burry them in the 

backyard and have funeral service. 

I did finally pull it together, and we decided to give the chickens the dead worms.

Evidently that was my closure. I felt better knowing they were in a better place.

Uncle Jim's Worm Farm is where I ordered them from and they kindly sent a batch of fresh worms 

for free.

So now all is well with the worms, they are alive and no stinky stink.

I do find myself thinking about these worms constantly and I have to admit,

I like sitting in the floor with my hubby digging in the dirt to see if they are still alive.

WHO WOULD OF THOUGHT! 

I like worms!

My name is Tessa and I have worms! :)

So all in all thats whats been going on in my neck of the woods. I hope your neck of the woods is filled with just as much excitement as mine:) Talk to you soon, promise!:)

Laundry Soap

                                        Have you guys ever struggled with what kind of

laundry detergent to buy? One that would be Non - Toxic

and affordable? 

Yikes! 

There are a lot of products out there but very few that offer both.

 I want to share with you two products that I really like.

They are both safe and affordable.

First up, is Eco Nuts.

Eco Nuts are actually dried berry shells from the Sapindus mukorossi

(soapberry) tree found in Asia.

All you do is fill the bag up with the berry shells and throw them in the

wash.

The shells will start to break down & dissolve, then you just keep adding

more to the bag as you need them.

Believe it or not, they actually work. I dont know how well they would work

on something that is really stained, but, so far so good.

I ordered mine through Amazon for around $14.00.

Here is my favorite, Charlie's Soap.

I love this detergent, and it's the one I use the most, plus

it only takes a Tablespoon per load so it really last a long time.

I keep mine in a glass jar on top of the dryer.

Another cool thing is, the company recommends that you don't use

fabric softener, CHA- CHING!!

I order Charlie's soap through Amazon as well; So I joined Amazon's subscribe and save program and saved even more.

You get it a little cheaper and it's delivered right to your home whenever you need it.

I hope this helps you in trying to find a safe and affordable laundry soap.

Hope you have "LOADS" of fun! :-) 

Life Planner

I Heart Pinterest.

I would like to take this time to give a big thanks to

PINTEREST.

I am totally addicted to it, are you???

I now have to many things I want to cook, bake, organize, build,

party and maybe do our wedding again. ( just kidding on that last one)

O the endless possibilities.

What did I ever do before Pinterest.

(LOL)

Since it's the beginning of a new year, I thought I would start doing

some inexpensive organizing around the house.

First off, " The Fridge"

Organizing Made Fun: ( click now )

I found a great pin on pinterest for organizing your fridge.

This is a before picture of my fridge.

So unorganized, I am holding my head in shame.

I had to take everything out and give the ole fridge a good cleaning.

I can't believe how much food I had crammed in there.

Here is more.

Aaaaaannnd more.

After I got everything out and cleaned the fridge.

I made myself a sandwich, after staring at all that food it made

me hungry.

Here is the finished result.

I absolutely love it!!!!

It was definitely worth all that hard work and all the calories

I consumed while doing it.

I used the same boxes that

Organizing Made Fun

used.

You can purchase them at Walmart.

I think it looks it awesome.

PERFECTION!!

I hope you are inspired to do some organizing around the house.

I will warn you, once you start, it's hard to stop.

O well, time for a freezer make over ;-)

DI.Y. Lip Balm and Herbal Salve

Burt's Bees has been our favorite lip balm for some time now.

It works great and a lot of stores carry it.

The only bad thing is, at least for me, is the price.

I try to keep one in the car, in my purse, one in Bubby's coat

and in Sissy's purse.

But! we are always loosing them!!

That can get real expensive fast.

I don't know about you, but I need my Chapstick!

Probably about a year ago I bought some stuff to make lip balm and some

herbal salve.

I had totally forgotten about it until I found the stuff during Christmas.

While the kids were on their Christmas break, I thought it would be a perfect

time to put this stuff to use.

I got these recipe from Learningherbs.com

You can go on youtube and watch the video, which is what we did.

First thing you have to do is make an infused oil.

You need:

2 small mason jars

dried calendula flower (lip balm)

dried comfrey (herbal salve)

sweet almond oil (lip balm)

extra virgin olive oil (herbal salve)

Fill the jar halfway with the dried calendula flower.

The comfrey is for the salve. I forgot to take pictures of that,

so if you want to just make the lip balm, skip the comfrey directions.

If making the salve, fill the other jar half way with the dried comfrey.

Next, cover the calendula with sweet almond oil, until it's completely covered.

do the same with the comfrey except using olive oil.

Then give it a good stir. (don't use the same utensil)

Let set on counter top for at least three weeks.

Make sure and shake the jar once or twice a day.

When the three weeks are up, go ahead and strain your oil.

You will need one cup of oil.

If you have a little less, just add some almond oil to it

until it makes a cup.

Same with the comfrey using olive oil.

Foe the lip balm, melt 2 oz of beeswax in a double broiler.

I ordered my ingredients from Moutain Rose Herbs.

(I'll get back to the salve later)

When the wax is all melted, add the calendual infused oil.

Stir until it's smooth.

Remove from heat and pour in 1 1/4 tsp of peppermint essential oil

and stir.

Quickly pour into the containers.

It is a little messy, but it's easy to clean.

Once you have done that, leave lids off until

completely cooled.

This made 24 lip balm and 2 round containers of lip balm.

For the salve

Melt 1 oz of beeswax, in a double broiler.

When melted add one cup of comfrey infused oil.

Mix until smooth.

Remove from heat and add 1 tsp of Lavender essential oil

and stir.

Quickly pour into a some glass or metal containers.

This oil can be used in place of Neosporin.

Good Luck! ;-)

Christmas Morning Breakfast

Our family LOVES Crepes, so this year I decided to make crepes for

Christmas morning.

You can't go wrong with strawberries, chocolate and cream cheese

right??

All you need is

1 1/2 c. flour

1 Tbs sugar

2 c. warm milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs melted butter

Mix ingredients together and pour 1/4 c. batter

into skillet and swirl around until batter is thin.

(your crepe batter should be runny)

right before it starts to turn brown flip it over

and let it cook just for a few seconds.

We found that it was easier to flip using chop sticks ( lol )

These are so yummy!!!!

We couldn't make them fast enough.

You can add what ever filling you want.

the kids favorite is Nutella and strawberries, with

whip cream on top.

My favorite is Mascarpone cheese and yogurt with strawberries.

1/2 c. mascarpone cheese

1/2 c. yogurt

1/4 c. raw honey.

This can easily be doubled.

Merry Christmas ;-)

My Online Christmas List 2011

WOW!!! Did I miss you guys!!!!

It's been a while since I've blogged. My pearfect life has been crazy to say the least.

I enjoyed the break, but missed talking with all of you too much and I'm soooo glad to be back!!

Alright! enough of the mushy mushy stuff. Lets get to it :-)

I am assuming you know how close Christmas is, and if you don't,

WAKE UP!!!! it's right around the corner ;)

If your not stressed out yet, then, your missing out on all the fun!! jkjk

It's always been my goal not to be stressed out in December, and just try to

go with it. That is easier said than done.

The month is CRAMED pack with stuff to do and people to see.

Oh! not to mention the whole making memories thing.

Thank God! for Amazon this year.

I'm telling ya'll right now

Amazon is the way to go. I ordered just about everything through them,

and the greatest part was, I did it all while I was in my p.j's :-)))))

SO! I thought you guys would like to see whats on my Christmas list for

2011.

Confession Time! My name is Tessa and I'm a Gym Junnkie!

It's true I'm addicted to the endorphin rush and hanging with my gym buddies :-)

If your the same way then you will love these New Balance minimus shoes. I already own a black pair, but I put a gray pair on the list.

I will let you in on a secret. This is a minimalist shoe which means its a lot like working out barefoot. Which many believe is better for you. You will feel it in your calves for sure. So take it slow with these shoes, they are a lot different than your regular ones, but have great results.

Am I the only person that feels guilty for going into the

store, with a reusable shopping bag, that has another stores name on it?

This should solve that problem. These bags are from reuseit.com

They have great reviews and will eliminate the shame of other store branding. We now can shop with our heads held high ;-)

I've been reading a lot about these Negative Ion Bracelets by LifeStrength.

It's suppose to be good for your health and well being. Can't wait to find out ;-)

"I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!!!"

(from the movie elf)

I'm completely in love with these boots.

I guess these boots have been around for a while.

I'm just now finding out about them, and I have to have a pair.

Good thing my hubby know just what to get me. Or at least he will on

Christmas day (wink, wink)

I want to strart making our own dairy free yogurt, and this one had great reviews.

This isn't on my list, I actually own a pair, and their AWESOME!

These gloves work with your iphone.

In other words, no more taking your gloves off to answer a call or to text.

Cool right? My nose is SOOO thankful! (: iphone user Joke :)

If you don't have these on your Christmas list,

DO IT NOW!!!

I ordered mine through Moosejaw .

Takeya tea maker with jacket.

I REALLY want this!

We make a lot of tea in our house and this would be

PERFECT!

Plus it comes with a cute little jacket to keep the tea warm. (Precious)

My son wants SkyLander for Wii.

Evidently it's a big deal.

This is on my daughter list, the Kindle Fire.

Looks really cool. A perfect gift for any age.

Well guys thats my list and I hope it helps you with yours.

Until the next time (: sooner than later... I promise :) Happy Ordering!

Merry Christmas!!