Natural Fall Decor for our Mantel

There is something special about the changing of seasons. I really like each season and the changes in weather. Where we live, we have all four seasons for around 3 months, give or take a few weeks. The Fall is always great. I like the cool crisp air, the changes in color, and the indoor fires. I also enjoy decorating for the changes in the seasons. The past couple of years I have decorated for Autumn with items including Hydrangeas and several other items from our yard. Here is our mantel for the fall.
 

Police Officer Died After Inhaling Noxious Fumes

If you think you are safe cleaning your house or office, think twice before you spray your cleaners again. The Chicago Tribune had an article this week about a police officer who died from breathing noxious fumes from and aerosol cleaner.

He was coughing and having trouble breathing after inhaling a cleaning substance that a maintenance worker sprayed from an aerosol can on a desk at the district station.
He was released from the hospital after a few days but returned a short time later when his illness persisted. Robinson's lungs all but shut down, forcing doctors to place the father of two teenagers in a medically induced coma. He died April 4, his family said.

Read the complete story here.

I know that I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone especially to one of my family members. I have been using these non-toxic cleaning products for 12 years and wouldn’t use any other products. I know when I clean, I am really cleaning, and  not adding toxic chemicals into my house. They are very effective and less expensive. These products are very concentrated so you only use a little for each use.

To change all your cleaning products to safe, effective products I would recommend this Starter Kit along with Scour Off, and the Hand Wash. This would cover everything you would need to clean everything in your house.

You'd have to spend more than $3,400 to get the same amount of clean found in the Get Clean Starter Kit!

And, when you purchase the Get Clean Starter Kit you also make a positive impact on the planet:
Keep 108 pounds of packaging waste from landfills.
Eliminate 248 pounds of greenhouse gas.

What is the worth of your families health?

Parents of a Dozen

How to Mix Basic H Video

Hello! I wanted to share with you a video my daughter, Bonnie, from House of Grace put together. It shows how to mix our most used and favorite cleaning product ever, Shaklee Basic H, into your spray bottles. It could be used to clean just about everything.

 

  I hope you enjoyed this…
What did you think?
For more uses for Basic H, click here.
If you have any questions for us, please leave them in the comments and we will get back to you.
Order your Get Clean Starter Kit today!

Thanks and have a great day!

Parents of a Dozen

Are you looking for a business where you can work from home, have unlimited earning potential, and help other people in the process?  Shaklee may be the company for you. Send an email to (ParentsofaDozen@live.com) if you are interested. We can explain how our team works and how you can get on the ‘fastTRACK’ to success!

Homegrown Peach Baby Food

This is the first year we actually have peaches on our 4 year old peach tree. They are so juicy and delicious. We are also getting a lot of other food from our garden.
I really like to try and eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. So having fresh fruit in the house is great.We picked pick about three of these bowls full and still have some more to pick.
This is our little baby, who is 6 months old. She started eating baby food about a month ago.  She really likes these peaches.
I peeled the peaches, cut them into small pieces, and then I was able to mash it with a fork. I could have use the blender or food processor, but these peaches were so juicy they mashed easily. Who wants to clean unnecessary dishes? lol
Do you ever make your own baby food. I like the fact that I know exactly what my baby is eating; no additives, no preservatives,  no msg…

Do you ever make your own baby food?

Let us know your baby favorites.

What does your baby like?

Parents of a Dozen

Changes made on the exterior of this Flip House

As many of you know my husband had lost his job over 2 years ago because the company he worked for outsourced the work to a company in Taiwan. We had started a couple of home based businesses, one of which was flipping homes. This is where you buy, fix up, and resell houses, hopefully for a profit.
This is the house we bought to flip last fall after we completed the things that we needed to upgrade in order to resell the house. This is the house before we did anything. It may not look that bad, but nobody had lived in the house for two years and there were a lot of things that needed to be done. Some of the things we did on the exterior of the house were to

How to Make Dill Pickles

I showed your our garden here. We have been getting A LOT of cucumbers, so many that we can’t eat all of them.(We only got a few tomatoes so far.) I am going to show you how we make pickles. I have only made them a couple of times, so I am not an expert by any means. Actually, I helped my 12 year old daughter make this batch of pickles.

First we got together several canning jars. We use these for drinking glasses and to store other food items in our pantry also.
We washed all of the cucumbers in water and Shaklee Basic H2. I clean all my fruits and vegetables including lettuce and berries (Home grown lettuce has a lot of dirt on it and this works great.) I use this safe non-toxic cleaner for everything. I don’t want to use anything that is not safe for my family.
We cut the cucumbers into wedges. They could be sliced thin or left whole, also.

Then I put them into the jars. We put in as many as we can without bruising them.

We use fresh garlic. Separate the cloves, and ……peel them.   I use a Zyliss Garlic press. I use a lot of garlic, all the time, and this is an easy one to use. I bought mine at a Pampered Chef party years ago. You could get them several places now.
Put the garlic in and then just squeeze. I scrape the garlic on the side of the jar. We added 2 cloves to each jar. We then add 2 tablespoons of Celtic Sea Salt. This is unprocessed salt which is way better of you. We buy the 22 pound bag, which lasts us a long time.
  We also grew dill in our garden for the first time. I had no idea what part to use from the plant. I think you could use any and all of it. Does anyone know or have experience with this?
At first I just used the feathery part that is attached to the stem but then I added some of the top part. The flavor was delicious!
The last thing was to add filtered water. Water has so many unwanted containments that it’s important to use a good quality water filtration system. (This one is even certified to take out up to 99% of lead for only pennies a day!!!) 
Just fill the jar until it is about one half inch from the top. 
Put the lids on tight and let the jars sit at room temperature for two days. (I actually, gently flipped the jars back and forth to mix all the ingredients.)  If the cucumbers are whole it will probably take three days. Slices may only need one day. Then put the jars into the refrigerator. They should last for several months, but not in our house. lol!   And that is it. So easy and the family loves them.
Dill Pickles
4-5 pickling cucumbers
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of sea salt
1 cup filtered water

A bunch of fresh Dill or 1 tablespoon dry Dill

Have you ever canned pickles? How did they turn out? What ingredients do you use?

Do You can anything else? If so, what do you can? I would love to know!

Parents of a Dozen

Are you looking for a business where you can work from home, have unlimited earning potential, and help other people in the process?  Shaklee may be the company for you. Send an email to (ParentsofaDozen@live.com) if you are interested. We can explain how our team works and how you can get on the ‘fastTRACK’ to success!