The Homemade Orange Cleaner

Woot woot!  I am finally DOING a (small) project I saw somewhere (FB) and wanted to do.  Normally, I never get a round to it... but the stars aligned on this one LOL  First, here is the post on FB.

And here are the simple directions:  Orange peels, vinegar in a quart jar, let sit for 10 days or so...strain out the liquid and use as an all-purpose cleaner. Easy, cheap, natural, smells good!
Easy enough? LOL

First, I must explain/disclaim LOL  I had a lot of oranges to use...because I bought a bunch for the Light of the World  retreat at church (as church kitchen coordinator.)  I had to help provide snacks, breakfast, more snacks and more snacks for 2 1/2 days and that included people on diets, gluten-free people, vegans, etc.  So I bought some fruit...grapes, apples which I think I forgot to set out other than one time, bananas, and...the sweetest juiciest little seedless oranges ever...they didn't look like much but I tried them and new they were so good.  So I cut them into wedges to help the finger-food peeps handle them easier.  And...they sat there, and sat there....untouched.  The whole weekend.  WHAT GIVES!@ LOL  I don't know....I guess since they "didn't look like much", like I said, then they thought they weren't good? But anyway, I had a lot of extra oranges left over...I still do...I mean, I love oranges, but I can't eat that much at a time, or I get "discomfort." LOL  And my kids aren't that into them...at all.  Only two will eat the canned mandarin oranges...but for some reason, not the fresh peeled ones.  Argh.  Anyway, so this whole jar/cleaner project was perfect for my bowl full of orange wedges...and I took the leftover "insides" and a few of the peels and ground them into my garbage disposer for a wonderful deodorizer :) Love doing that...I did that at the church too, for the garbage disposal in the kitchen.  It needed it badly LOL I may have to do more intervention there. :P  But anyhoo....now you know the story of my oranges....I forget the real name of this kind...not clementines, but similar.  On sale at Sams'  LOL Oh and I also used apple cider vinegar since that was what I had on hand this time...someone had suggested it in comments I read somewhere.

And so  here are the pics of mine (with crappy phone camera)....

(that is a large pickle jar btw, ...can't tell w/ said crappy phone pic lol)

And so, we wait...and see...if it works... LOL  I'll try to remember to update :)  (most pics all from my now "old" phone....I am finally upgrading to a "smart phone" ....will update on that soon too LOL)

Somewhere Under the Rainbow: The Cesarean Awareness Ribbon debuted in April o...

wanted to re-blog this because CAM is coming up in a few short weeks.  I'll keep posting and keep posting, shouting from the rooftops....until birth is safer for all women.  We MUST lower the cesarean rates A LOT...NOW.  I plan to be posting a lot more on this, so heads up :)

Somewhere Under the Rainbow:

The Cesarean Awareness Ribbon debuted in April o...: The Cesarean Awareness Ribbon debuted in April of 2004 for Cesarean Awareness Month. The burgundy color of the ribbons represents birth an...

After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman’s Companion to Healing and Hope « Plot Line and Sinker

After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman’s Companion to Healing and Hope « Plot Line and Sinker:

'via Blog this'

The Apostolate of Hannah's Tears | We offer prayer support and comfort to the brokenhearted who suffer the pains of infertility at any stage of life, difficult pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, the loss of a child and the adoption process.

and thanks Sue for this, oh how lovely!!!

The Apostolate of Hannah's Tears | We offer prayer support and comfort to the brokenhearted who suffer the pains of infertility at any stage of life, difficult pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, the loss of a child and the adoption process.:

'via Blog this'

Sue Elvis Writes: Finding Meaning in a Baby's Death

she does it again...expresses much better than I ever could what I feel....I too came to HOPE, after Noah...through the healing process, thanks be to God!   I hope you write a book on this one day Sue!

Sue Elvis Writes: Finding Meaning in a Baby's Death: “I’ve been able to accept Thomas’ death but I just can’t imagine how any good can come out of it,” I told Tanya, the leader of a local grie...

First born

EDIT:  I started this post back closer to his actual birthday, Feb. 27 LOL  Just now posting......Well, I couldn't brag on my girls, without also bragging on my First Born Son.  Oh I get emotional thinking about what a good "little boy" he has been...and (sniff) what a good young man he is becoming.  Yes, he turned 12 last Monday and he has reminded me 357 times that in "just" 4 more years he will be getting his driver's license.  WAHHHH!  LOL  Hush your mouth boy!  :P

But he seemed to have a good birthday...he invited some friends over to crash for the night Friday night (or rather, stay awake all night together having fun.)  Yes, I was momentarily clinically insane. :P  Parents seemed to think "more power to ya!" LOL  But it went really well, the boys mostly played the Wii of course, and had a few games of hide and seek in the dark, even in our small house (not outside, since it was an Amazonian DOWNPOUR that night with multiple thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches. argh.)  And even hilarious rounds of "Truth or Dare" that involved a few dares to sneak up to me and say something silly. LOL  I got a kick out of that. (I was on the couch, on the laptop, until late) Ah, how the birthday parties have "aged" through the years....and I don't want to think how they WILL "age" in the future.  LOL   From watching the latest cartoon movie with popcorn and pizza (though that also happened this year LOL) to Truth or Dare.  Gah.  But all in all it went really well, and the boys seemed to have fun.  Future sleepovers are already in the works.  :)  Micah is making some great friends.   Here's the big hit cake pops a mom in our parish made for the party :)

(she actually put them on green "grass" in a box, not this pink thingy :)

And like I said, maturing.  Yes, he likes to grab the full attention of anyone near by and talk incessantly still about all things Pokemon.  Sigh. (maybe that one social skill he lacks due to not putting him in the public institutions, i mean, schools?? ) LOL Yes, he raises his hand in Rel. Ed. class to share something about his Teddy Bear, to which giggles can be heard in response.  Sigh.  Yes, he can torment his sisters, and laugh at the silliest non-sensible jokes.  But... he also loves altar-serving and takes pride in serving when he can at Daily Mass, being the only kid there.   Finally, we are able to now that we live 3 minutes instead of 30 minutes, from the church.  It's actually a wonderful start to our days when we make it.  It does throw our schedule off a bit, being at 9 a.m.  Because we aren't early-enough risers to fit breakfast in before Mass, we have to after...which is late, and then we often do either Home school group/Spanish class or a park day (phys. ed. :) and then it seems like it's lunch time, then nap time, then our evening activities....um, when do you fit some actual "schooly" type things in, or just reading?  Well, granted, if I have my wits about me, I can set the older two up w/ assignments to do while we take our nap (since I stay up so late, I more times than not, fall asleep too w/ Mariam LOL).......unless I don't nap, and get back up and can do some work w/ them.  And this year, more than ever, I feel like I'm "falling behind."  But more on that in another post....

Back to Micah....I love how so very "first born" he is.  He takes responsibility.  He is a "rules guy."  He takes pride now in keeping his room clean and neat and organized, and taking out the trash.  This may be short-lived LOL but I'm enjoying it.  What I am not enjoying is the new pre-teen-ness.  Argh.  I sense (see me literally sniffing it out, I SMELL it LOL) the HORMONES beginning to stir....beginning to rage.  No, not those kind of hormones.....but just....the emotion-inducing kind.  Sometimes angry hormones...sometimes happy...sometimes sad and crying...sometimes confused and overwhelmed....ack!  I sense....the...ATTITUDE.  Wahhhh!  Give me back my little two year old holding his linus-worn blue blankie and teddy bear:

Speaking of Teddy.....sigh.....I knew this was coming.  But...yk, he just turned 12 years old....and yes, we figured he was going to end up taking Teddy to college with him, especially after seeing Toy Story 3 a few times. LOL (Like I said, he's not ashamed either...he doesn't "care" what other people think, even his peers at church!)  He still needed Teddy to sleep.  He still toted him to sleepovers and grandparents' homes.  Even after adding a second, newer Bear....Cousin Copper...the chocolate smelling bear from Grandmama and Grandpa a few years back for Valentines' Day....he still favored good ol' Teddy, who was the same age as Micah, and he had his own language to communicate with. LOL  But alas, we think ....we...have...lost...Teddy.  For. good. :(*  Oh the agony.  Micah hasn't given up all hope yet, and is praying for St. Anthony to help find him.  But here's how it went down.   Micah had spent the night at Nana and Pawpaw's and I went to pick him up.  I was in a hurry, but told him to go get his Bear.  Micah went to right where he believed he had put Teddy...on or next to Pawpaw's desk (where the kids congregate to play games on the computer, in the kids' play room, where the tv is.)  But see, that day, a family friend who is a professional house cleaner/organizer had begun work to declutter and clean the house.  And she'd been throwing out things...old toys maybe even.  She doesn't think she threw it out, but I mean,...how would she know?  Maybe she did, maybe she didn't.  But...we certainly can't find Bear anywhere....and it's been what...3, maybe 4 weeks?   I really meant to confiscate Bear long before now and put him in a place of safe-keeping....or demand that Micah do so, and not take him out of the house ever, ever.  Sigh.  But...I guess time will tell.  So...for now, Copper is doing Teddy's job.  My 12 year old moody, but happy mostly, "baby" is snoozing away with him right now.....on the floor of his sisters' room because he doesn't want to be alone.  LOL  We'll see how much THAT changes in the next 4 years! :P 

Ah, my braces-wearing, glasses-wearing (when not lost or broken) giggly emotional pre-teen....how I love thee.  :)

You challenge me in new ways (and call me out, when I am in the wrong....)  You make me proud.  I love how you love history and math and science (when I do actually teach you something lol) ....and art...and "know" that Pokemon (and Digimon, and Dragonball, and Yugioh and all that other stuff) are not real.  I love how you are learning your Faith and are spiritual....how you had such a good weekend w/ the teens at the Abby Youth Festival...and have many years yet to go again and again.  I love how you've thought already about the priesthood, but also about marriage and family.  I pray so hard that GOD's WILL be done in your life, young man...son.  May HE show you the way to YOUR true calling and vocation.  Whatever it may be...I give it over to HIM...it is in HIS HANDS and I will be so proud and happy either way.  (I never used to say that fully....as a Protestant, I didn't fully understand vocations...and wanted you to only be married and have children....but now I know, in the big scheme of things....it would be WONDERFUL if you were called to be a PRIEST...or a Religious.  I think you would be SOO GOOD at it!!!! :)  Oh, I love you Micah!!  Happy Birthday...more bragging on you later!  

One Thing

I think there is one thing I am most proud of myself, as a mother, that I do.  That I do well and good.  For the most part.  When my child wakes me up in the middle of the night, no matter how much sleep I have had or how I feel, so far I have been able to be there for them.  I mean "be there" in every way.  I can hold hair out of the way for puking, hold the puke bowl, wipe the puke away, clean up the puke, wipe the bottoms, bathe the sick child, redress them, sleep on the couch with them, hold them, rub their backs, hold the cold rag on their faces.....etc. Heck, even for a kidney stone, a wound in the head, or a broken arm now. LOL  And I am so grateful to God for such graces.  Maybe at times, they are "too dependent" on me....too "babied"...I don't know.  But I am still glad I can do these things for them, knowing it was something I longed for as a child.  Oh, I really am not bitter about it, because my mom couldn't help being the way she was about that.  Some people just can't handle it.  But I so wished she could on so many lonely scary nights, when I was sick.  And maybe I said prayers about it, that one day I would be able to do it for MY children.  I don't know...but I am so thankful I can be.  And I hope I always will be able to "be there" at ANYtime during the night, for whatever my child needs of me.  Lord, in Your Mercy, hear my prayer!!