Chicago & Kitten Update August 15, 2019

The kittens are growing by leaps and bounds and are now free to roam the apartment. 

Chicago has gotten so big, especially compared to the kittens.

Watch the video here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

DIY Lemonade Concentrate

There is nothing better than a nice cool drink of yellow sunshine.  Yellow sunshine being lemonade of course.  But why use the powdered kind when you can make a homemade concentrate and know exactly what your family is drinking. 

I had a whole bunch of lemons that I was needing for my DIY Enzyme cleaner, but I certainly wasn't going to waste the yummy juice they produced so I made this concentrate.

It was so good my family drank the entire amount of concentrate in 2 days. 

DIY Lemonade Concentrate

2 cups fresh lemon juice
2 2/3 cups sugar
2 2/3 cups water


Combine the water and sugar in a sauce pan on your stove and bring to a boil  You can stir it if you wish, but once it comes to a boil, don't stir it anymore as it may create sugar crystals. 

Boil the syrup mixture for 10 to 15 minutes until it comes to a light amber color.  Let this cool to room temperature.

Once your simple syrup is cooled to room temperature, combine it with your lemon juice and stir to combine.  This is your concentrate mixture.  We stored it in the fridge and added it as needed, but you could also freeze it in ice cube trays and add a few cubes to water as needed and to taste.

The original recipe that I found called for 2 to 3 tables of concentrate for a glass of lemonade.  I found this was not lemonadey enough.  Yes that is a technical term.  The flavor was weak and watery, so we did end up doubling the amount we put into each cup, but go with what works for your taste.

Watch me make it here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

DIY Enzyme Cleaner

Enzyme cleaners are used to remove organic stains like blood, urine, and feces.  It is also good to remove stubborn food stains like grease, cooking oil, and wine.  Clogged drains are another use for enzyme cleaner. 

So why not make your own. 

DIY Enzyme Cleaner

2 cups citrus scraps (lemons, grapefruit, oranges, limes, pineapple, or a combination)
           I used a combination of lemons and pineapple
1/2 cup brown sugar
           I used my homemade brown sugar
1 tsp yeast
           I used instant yeast
4 cups water
           I used filtered water but tap would work just fine
Container to hold items
           I used half gallon wide mouth mason jars, but 2 litter plastic pop bottle works too


Combine all ingredients in a container with a lid (I used a half gallon mason jar). 

The enzyme cleaner will take about 2 weeks to ferment completely before it is ready to be used. 

You can make this cleaner without the yeast, but it will take about 3 months of fermenting before it will be ready to use.

Make sure to shake the contents every day and release the gas build up to prevent your container from exploding from the pressure.  I used 2 mason jars with fermenting lids (the kind for pickles or sauerkraut) and 2 with regular lids that I tighten to shake, then loosen til they just hold the lid in place after wards.

Watch me mix this up here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Removing Plastic from the Stove Grate Take 2

Well, lets just say removing melted plastic from a stove top grate wasn't as simple as I thought it would be, as you saw from yesterday's video. 

In this video, I try again with more success. 

Watch my plastic battle here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Removing Plastic from a Stove Grate Take 1

I'm not sure about your house, but this house seems accident prone at times.  That could be things being knocked off counters, shelves, or tables.  Or simply where we just aren't thinking clearly when we do something. 

Kinda like the day when we set a plastic bowl on a hot stove grate.  Yeah, thankfully, I can't take credit for that accident but I can for getting it off the grate. 

Watch Take 1 here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Removing Dye

Using any kind of dye, be it for your hair, clothes, or anything else, is fun, but very messy.  Heaven forbid it splash anywhere too.  Then its just a nightmare.

After dyeing the scrubs, I found red dye residue on my tongs, sink and pot.  Pretty common and while I hoped it wouldn't stain, I wasn't really surprised when it did.  But removing it, I wasn't looking forward to that at all.

Then I tried this trick and got the majority of the dye off in a single application.

Watch the video here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Dying Scrubs

Mr J is wanting to go back to being a CNA.  He has signed up for the next class available to be re-certified.  He was a CNA previously both in Illinois and in Wisconsin, when he lived in those previous states, but his certification has expired and did not transfer from Illinois here to Tennessee.

He is pretty excited about getting back into medical.  For class, he would need a set of red scrubs plus a few other items.  Well, we couldn't find red scrubs locally and weren't sure if we had time to wait for an order (and hoped we got the right size without being able to actually see it).  So I got a set of white scrubs and I'm dying them red.

Come along on the journey with me and enjoy some of Mr J's weird humor here:

  See ya soon
  Danielle

Visit to the ER

We all have days when we just really forget that we are suppose to be adults.  Really, its more like that we forget we aren't in our twenties anymore.

Well Mr J certainly was reminded of that on this day.  He was joking around with a neighbor kid and got an elbow to the eye for his trouble.  Now, by joking around I mean they were showing each other different MMA moves.  And by neighbor kid, I mean the 18 year boy next door.

Its funny when real life reminds you of things you used to be able to do.  Mr J was pretty good at martial arts back in the day....and I do mean BACK IN THE DAY.  Some many days ago before grey hair and teenage kids.  Don't get me wrong, he is still pretty good at it, but at 40 we are just not as quick as we were in our 20's and he couldn't get out of the way quick enough when he realized he was too close for the move to NOT make contact.

I just shook my head then took him to the ER for what I was sure was going to be like 5 or 6 stitches.

Watch his visit here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Tennessee Sites

The scenery around where we live is absolutely gorgeous.  It is rolling hills, open fields, and beautiful blue skies.  The mountains in the background at times are another beautiful bonus.

Not everyone likes country settings, but to me they are relaxing, calming, and soothing.

Enjoy some of the sites here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Kitten Update August 3, 2019

The kittens are growing again.

See the latest kitten saga update here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

First Day of 6th Grade

Today marked the day when Skye started middle school.

This means changing classrooms, daily homework, and having a locker at school.

Watch Skye's first day of school, start of the day and after school here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

6th Grade Orientation

It is that time of year, the time for school.  All the mom's out there are probably shouting with joy, I know I was.

This year Skye is in 6th grade.  Back when I was in elementary school, in the city of Chicago, the school covered grades kindergarten to 8th and then we graduated from 8th grade before entering high school.

Here in Tennessee, the elementary schools in our area go to 5th grade, where they then graduate to middle school.  Middle school covers grades 6th through 8th grades.  Then they graduate again from 8th grade before entering high school.

Watch Skye's 6th grade orientation here:

See ya soon!
Danielle

Haircut Faces

I'm not sure if it is just me, but I get some serious entertainment from watching people get their hair cut.  The faces they make, especially kids, just cracks me up.

I caught a few of the faces Skye made during her last haircut on video and thought I would say those to spread the laughs.

Watch that here:

See ya soon!
Danielle