Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

This my friends is my great news, I’m on Nester’s front page!!!

This sweet gal has written the best post about yours truly.

I’ve really enjoyed working with her, Nester is one fun lady!

She has highlighted my art business and I’m one of her premier sponsors.  You can see my add at Nesting Place in the top right hand corner.

She is hosting a giveaway of two of my original paintings.  Head on over and enter to WIN!

Stay tuned for some very exciting things to come. Nester and I have  some great surprises  coming up in January!

I have some VERY, VERY exciting news to share!!!

But, it will have to wait till tomorrow.

I know, I hear those disappointed sighs.

So, I’ll give you a little hint of what’s to come in tomorrow’s post.

Be sure to visit on Tuesday, you won’t want to miss this!

Here’s your hint!

Here are some verses from Romans that are very precious to me.

Romans 5:1 & 2

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory….And now we can rejoicein our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (NLT)

The other night I was telling my computer genius husband that I had a great idea about how to personalize laptops.

I thought it would be really cool to be able to put some kind of vinyl decal over the case top.

I got online and looked around and guess what….

Someone beat me to it!

I have great ideas, I just need to have them sooner I guess.

Anyway…Schtickers makes ready made laptop skins and they also have a custom option.

Very cool.  I think I might get one of these.

I’m thinking of designing my own.  I’ll let you see what I end up doing.

Every once in a while I really want to cut my hair.

Do.   Something.   Different.

I guess it happens to most of us.  I just get tired of the same style day after day…after day….

So…I know this might sound crazy but, when I want to find new hairstyles I look at wigs online.

Yep, I said wigs.

You can pick what length you want and choose from hundreds of styles.

(Without seeing nasty ads or photos that usually pull up when you’re looking for images.)

Here’s a great wig site I found yesterday.  I thought I’d put up some of the haircuts I’m thinking about.

What do you think?   Which one do you like best?  Which one do you think will look good on me?

(Tell me which one you think would look cute on me by leaving the number of the picture with your comment.)

Thanks!  I can’t wait to see what you all like!

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Lindsay from Passionate Homemaking has the greatest recipes on her blog.

I made the Banana Bread this week and it was great.

The kids kept asking, “Can I have a muffin?” over and over!

Here is the recipe.   By the way this is a tasty way to use up bananas that are going spotty.

When we last heard from our heroine homemaker she was on a quest for answers.

After reading and researching she found out that most of the ingredients in her new cleaners were toxic.

After learning to avoid the top ten most toxic, she found some recipes to make her own cleaners.

She started to use them and was surprised at how well they worked and were only a few cents to make!

Our little homemaker was happy and she and her family was safe.  Now she could have a lemon fresh, germ free, sparkling home; just like she had dreamed of.

THE END

If you haven’t already guessed it, our little homemaker is yours truly.

During that time I started to switch out all of our laundry, cleaning and body products as well.

Whenever we would run out of something I’d buy or make the non toxic version.

Here are a few homemade cleaners that have worked great for my family.

* Soft Scrubbing Cleaner

Just take baking soda and mix with water until a soft paste has formed.  Usually I’ll just sprinkle it straight into the sink or onto the counter.  Scrub with a cloth until clean.  This has worked as well as other soft scrubbing cleaners, but without the beach and other nasties.

* Laundry Booster

Have you ever forgotten to take a load of laundry out of the washer, leaving it there overnight?        Yuck!   Talk about stinky!   To solve this problem wash the load again in the warmest water you can, but add a cup of white vinegar when you put in the soap.  The vinegar really helps to get the stink out!

If you’d like to have more recipes for homemade cleaners here are some great links:

Clean and Green: Natural Homemade Cleaners

Antibacterial Bathroom Cleaner Recipe

Homemade Cleaners

In keeping with my recent post about staying well, I thought I’d share how we get things clean around my house.

Our story begins a few years ago…

Once upon a time there was a young homemaker that wanted a clean, germ free, lemon fresh, sparkling home.  So, she went to the store and bought the best new cleaner on the market.  You know, the one that the TV ads said would make her home the most beautiful, the cleanest, the best smelling…

Our little homemaker couldn’t wait to try out her new cleaning products!

The first room to clean was the bathroom.  “If these handy dandy products work in here, they will work anywhere!” she said.
She sprayed and scrubbed, from the toilet to the tub.   But by the time she got to the shower a strange thing started happening.

After spraying the shower with some kind of chemical cocktail our heroine started to cough, sneeze and wheeze.  Her hands and eyes felt like they were on fire!  Something must be wrong!!!

When she was finally feeling better, she began to try to understand why those nice people on TV were saying those cleaners were so wonderful.

Why did she feel like she had been poisoned, gassed and burned with acid?  All she wanted was a nice clean, germ free, lemon fresh home!

She stared to read and ask questions.  The things she learned shocked her!

All those chemicals were actually dangerous to her health and the health of her family!

Something had to be done.

Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what happens to our little homemaker!