Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam

 I have two little kids, which mean our peanut butter and jelly consumption is pretty high.  One day I might attempt to make my own peanut butter, but for now I'm sticking with the easy stuff.

Homemade Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam
You Will Need:
2 pounds (~6½ cups smooshed) rinsed off, patted dry, and hulled really sweet strawberries
¼ cup honey
3 teaspoons lemon zest
¼ cup  freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Place the strawberries in a large pot and smoosh with the bottom of a glass. Add the honey, lemon zest and lemon juice and heat over medium high.  Boil, stirring every now and then, until the mixture thickens. With my really soft and juicy strawberries, this took about 45 minutes. It could take more or less time depending on your strawberries. To test, put some of the jam on a clean spoon and then put the spoon on a plate in the freezer. Let it sit in there for five minutes and then take it out. If the jam doesn’t fall easily off the spoon when you turn it to the side, it’s ready and you can take the pot off the heat. If it does pour off easily, continue cooking for another 5 minutes and try the test again. Let cool and then pour into jars and store in the fridge and for up 1 week.

 Because I'm lazy, I bought frozen berries so I wouldn't have to wash and hull them.  When they thawed they were pretty mushy which made the cooking time faster.  It was about 30 minutes until the jam was thick enough.

 I halved the recipe and ended up with just about a cup of jam

 The Verdict: It tasted nothing like store bought strawberry jam, which was a plus in my opinion.  It was very fresh and sweet.  I could see it being a little more tart depending on the strawberries you have, but you might be able to add more honey to counter that. 

My kids didn't like it, but I think that's because it was something new, and apparently it's a sin to ask a picky eater to switch their jam.  It could also have been the texture that bothered them.  It had more strawberry chunks then regular jam.

The one draw back to this is probably the time and effort.  You do have to sort of baby it, and because it's fresh it won't have a long shelf life. But to me the time is worth it.  I finished off that cup by myself in a week, and I'm not a big jam person.

DIY Bouncy Ball

Bouncy balls are pretty popular in our house.  The kids love launching them off the stairs onto the tile and watching them bounce around.  The balls don't last long though because they either get lost, or the dog snatches it and chews it.  Have you ever seen a dog chase a bouncy ball?  It's highly entertaining.

Homemade Bouncy Balls

You will need:

1/2 tsp Borax

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 Tbsp Elmer's Glue-All

2 Tbsp warm water

food color (optional)

measuring spoons

2 bowls

Directions:

 Mixture #1 - 1st Bowl - Add 2 tablespoons of warm water plus 1/2 teaspoon of Borax and stir to dissolve the Borax as much as possible. Add food color to this mixture if desired & mix.

Bowl #2 - Pour in 1 tablespoon Elmer's Glue-All Add 1/2 teaspoon of the above Borax mixture and 1 tablespoon corn starch DO NOT MIX! Let mixture stand for about 15 seconds then mix the ingredients until it becomes too hard to do so. You will be able to tell when the time is right - it will get clumpy and combined together. At that point, take out the mixture into your hand and quickly knead it in a circular pattern to form your ball. (Think of when you make a ball with play dough.) It starts out as a sticky, gooey mess but it quickly starts to solidify so you must mold it quickly.

After reading through the directions I decided to wait until the kids were in bed to try this one out.  It was time sensitive and involved Borax so I figured it would be easier on my own. 

I mixed up my first bowl

 Then my second bowl

 and rolled it around and around in my hand until I had a wet but firm ball. (notice the wet splotch next to the ball.  I wanted to see if it would bounce while wet, it bounced ok but left those wet spots everywhere it landed)

The Verdict: I think this is what you would call an Epic Fail! First of all, I had to babysit it for the first hour I had it sitting out to dry.  It kept schlumping on the counter so I had to keep re-rolling it into a ball.  Wet things don't like to stay in a perfect ball shape.

Eventually I gave up trying to help it keep a perfect shape and decided I didn't care if I had a lopsided ball.  When it was fully hard I got my camera and let it bounce. 

And what a bounce it was. The ball made it a full 1/2 inch off the counter.  Amaaaaaazing!

I picked it up to see if I could get a better bounce and saw this.  The dang thing had cracked after one bounce

 Did you notice the angry eyes behind my hand?  My daughter was not happy that I had a bouncy ball and wasn't sharing it with her.  You can imagine how annoyed she got when she caught me throwing it away.

Dry Laundry Detergent

It's laundry detergent time again.

A friend told me about this one and I'll tell you right now, it's great! It uses the same ingredients as the basic laundry detergents, but without water.

Dry Laundry Detergent
You Will Need:
1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Washing Soda
1 bar of soap (you can use any soap but Ivory, Dove or Fels-Naptha work the best)

Directions:
Grate your bar of soap with either a cheese grater or food processor.  Mix all the ingredients together. Use 2 Tbsp per load. 

Grating soap by hand is a pain in the.... hand.  If you have any sort of food processor I recommend using it.  You will want to cut up the soap into smaller pieces first.

I threw the ingredients into a container, put on a lid and gave it a good shake to mix it all up.
Note: just in case your confused, the grated soap above is Ivory, the soap I used in the photo below is Fels-Naptha

The Verdict: Like I said early, this is great.  It cleans really well, there is never any residue on my clothes and the best part is it's not goopy like the basic laundry detergent.

I will usually triple the batch and it lasts me several months by using 1-2 Tbsp per load (depending on the load size and the yuckyness of it) It's quick to make and just as quick to clean up after. 

I have used Fels-Naptha and Ivory and didn't notice a difference in cleaning between the two.  

Just as a reminder (or maybe I have yet to mention this and I just think I have) I have a front loading washing machine and a water softener so your results could be different.

Hip Hip Hooray for a good laundry detergent!

Fruit Fly Trap

I'm a bit of a fruit fanatic.  I always have fresh fruit in the house and I could live off of just that, but alas, I still need those greens to keep my motor running.

Of course the fresh fruit attracts fruit flies by the thousands and of course they decide to take up permanent resident near the fruit bowl.

I kept seeing those wasp traps made out of a two liter bottle then one day I saw that you can do the same thing for fruit flies, you just change the bait. 

Bring it on bugs....

I forgot to tag the blog post I used so I can't find it, but this one gives you pretty much the same idea.

Fly Trap
You Will Need:
2 liter soda bottle
scissors
bait

Directions:
Cut the top off your soda bottle, just below the tapered neck. Remove the soda cap, turn the top upside down and place it inside the bottom of the bottle. Put the bait in the bottom of the bottle. 

The bait you use will depend on what you are trying to catch, but I kept seeing a common theme of  watered down jam.  The sweet smell should attract the flies/wasps then they should drown in the water. 

I used the 2 litre bottle I had after making the 4th of July drinks. I cut the top of the bottle off and it sat in the bottom perfectly with no seams around the edge.  I mixed enough water into the jam to make it liquid then set the bottle next to the fruit bowl.

The Verdict: Either those flies are smarter then I give them credit for, or this trap is a big dud.  I left it there for 5 days and not one fly went into that bottle.  Even when I covered the fruit bowl the flies still figured out a way to get past the seal and attack my bananas instead of going into the bottle.

I decided to try again with a different bait so I put the bottle outside on the porch and planned on cleaning it out later that day. About 5 hours later I went to get it and found this

 Apparently those flies are smart.  It looks like they only went into the bottle when it was the only option of food.  Once I saw this I decided to try a whole new method.  Stay tuned......

DIY Febreze

Over the last several months I have had many inquires about homemade Febreze and my answer was always the same "I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list." I was planning on testing it eventually, but it wasn't a big priority. 

Last week when my younger sister asked about homemade Febreze she apparently didn't approve of my response because about 20 minutes later I got a text from her telling me that she just made her own and what she thought of it. 

So this blog post is courtesy of my younger sister, Pig.  Why do I call her Pig?  I have no idea, but that's been her nickname for the last 20+ years.

Homemade Febreze
You Will Need:
1/8 Cup of Your Favorite Fabric Softener
2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
Hot Tap Water - enough to fill the bottle (Pig used a 16 oz bottle)

Directions:
Pour all the ingredients into a spray bottle and shake until well mixed.  Spray onto any fabric surface. 

Looking around the Internet I have found many variations of this recipe so it looks like you could play around with the amount of ingredients until you get a combination that works for you.

Pig, mixed her ingredients together then used the spray on her couches

Disclaimer: Neither of us use store bought Febreze so we can't tell you how it compares,  all I can give you is her opinion of the homemade stuff. 

The Verdict: Pig said "My couches, the whole living room, smells super yummy." It didn't last long though.  Pig said by that evening the smell was completely gone and her couches smelt the same as they always do. 

Even though it was short lived, Pig's son enjoyed the smell while it lasted.  

Going 'poo Free

Back in January I tested some homemade deodorant. When I clicked on the Pin to get more information about making the deodorant I was taken to a website about going shampoo free.  The website has 3 main reasons for going 'poo free and I was intrigued by them.  So eventually I tried it out.

Shampoo Free
You Will Need:
1 Tbsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Water

Directions:
Mix ingredients together and pour into a squeeze bottle. In the shower, soak your hair with water, then squeeze a bit of the baking soda mixture on your scalp, starting at the crown. Massage it in as you go, squeezing a bit more here and there, concentrating mostly on the scalp. You can include your hair as well, but since most of the oils originate from the scalp itself, the hair will naturally get cleaned once the scalp is clarified. After a few minutes, rinse it out. Those with curly or thicker hair might need a bit more baking soda, and those with thin or fine hair might need less. Experiment, and see what works for you.

The original poster talks about how she uses apple cider vinegar as a conditioner.  Wanting to keep my hair on my head, I refused to do this and decided to continue using my regular conditioner.

She also says that their could be a transition period where your hair produces excess oil.  This transition period could last a few weeks or a few months.

After reading all this information here was my plan;
-even though my hair is really thick, I was going to stick with the original recipe
-since I refuse to use the apple cider vinegar, I would continue to use my regular conditioner but try to use the bare minimum
-I wanted to at least try it through the transition period so I could see how well it worked once my hair got use it.

I do have to confess, I cheated the first week.  I had a hair appointment I had forgotten about so I washed my hair with regular shampoo the day before.  I didn't want to get this reaction from the beautician




The Verdict: I only made it 2 1/2 weeks until I couldn't stand it anymore and gave up.
Oh how I hated it!  Let me count the ways;
1) It didn't get all my products out of my hair.  The original poster said that she no longer needs any hair products but if I don't use some sort of frizz control spray, I will look like this

 2) My roots felt pretty clean, and they never did get extra oily but the rest of my hair felt dirty.  It felt like I had grabbed a hand full of sand, rubbed it all over my hair and went on with my day

3) Because it was basically water, it was not easy trying to massage it into my scalp, especially around the base of my neck.  I would try to flip my head over so gravity would help but then the baking soda water would run up my nose or into my eyes.

4) Even with using regular conditioner my hair started to dry out and break very easily, especially when blow drying it.

5) I got some awesome static cling.

Maybe this was all part of the transition period and I gave up to soon, but I just couldn't endure one more day of dirty gnarled hair sticking to my face.

Deep Clean Your Linoleum

I know some people prefer hardwood floors or tile, but I'm actually a big fan of linoleum.  It's durable, low maintenance and easy to clean.  However, some types of linoleum like to capture dirt and hold it hostage in it's little grooves and it becomes impossible to clean it out with just regular mopping.

I use to use a Mr. Clean Eraser to scrub the dirt out of the deep grooves and it worked just fine.  The problem was, I would go through several of them and the price could add up.  So I wanted to come up with a cheaper different method. 

Linoleum Deep Cleaner
You Will Need:
Baking Soda
Hydrogen Peroxide 
Scrub brush (stiff enough to scrub, but not stiff enough to do damage)
Cloth

Directions
Combine baking soda and hydrogen peroxide until you get a paste (I like it to be thinner but you may prefer a thicker paste).  Scrub the mixture into the linoleum then use a wet cloth to wipe away the mixture and dirt.  Ta-daa

The Verdict: It does take some scrubbing and it can be time consuming depending on how big your area is, but it works great and the floor always looks fantastic afterwords. 

Depending on the foot traffic and the type of linoleum you have, you might be able to get away with 6-12 months between scrubbings.  Not a bad trade off in my opinion.