Sharing the Herb Garden

My girl friends wanted some of my rosemary. Today I began the rooting process. I am hoping to give them this gift in 2 weeks.

You will need: potting soil, some small pots, any woody plant you want to root and rooting hormone.

1st cut 6 inch lengths of rosemary sprigs and place in a cup of water.
2nd prepare moist potting soil in small potters. Use a thin stick to poke a hole into the soil.
3rd pinch off the leaves from the base to 4 inches. Dip in rooting hormone and stick into hole. Water a little and Voila!

Keep in a cool place under some lighting. Water when the soil looks dry, but not dried out.

This system works well for any woody plant.

Is Home Grown Milk Cheaper?

I would love to get a goat, but my husband gave the official 'NO" yesterday. I asked him to leave a part of the yard un-mowed so we could make hay. He wanted to know what I needed hay for since we don't have any animals. I said, "For any animals we might have, I am preparing ahead." With a smile he replied, "No goat!" That made it final. No goat for me. My consolation is CVS selling TG Lee milk (no hormones) @ $3.99/gal. With milk prices rising as fast as gas, this is still cheaper than having our own animal.



Here is the break down:



one time-A good milking goat average cost- $250

one time-A female companion for her- $ 80

one time-Cost of dwelling if none exists- $ 50-100

monthly-Cost in feed for the two- $ 30



$$$ Alfalfa, hay and mineral brick vary according to your area. There are many one time supplies to purchase for milking.$$$ More information on goats. Goats do better with a companion. The milking goat has to be bred every year to continue milk supply. During pregnancy she must be allowed to dry up, about 13 weeks.



One goat can produce 7 gallons per week. Can you use that much in a week? I can buy 2 gallons of the expensive/good milk and still be in the black.

The Movie

We saw Expelled: No intelligence allowed last week. Wow! I was excited to see some one standing up to the academic world for thier abuses. Bring it on!!! These abuses happen, I have seen it personally in high school. I have been afraid to voice my opinion due the animosity toward anything other than Darwinism. However the past year or two my boldness has increased with personal experementation and the acumulation of facts. I encourage any one to do their own research on the topic. Don't rely on current academic thinking, they have an agenda to sell. All I ask for from them is honesty...go ahead and say, 'you really don't know how every thing began.' But, to make up lies and destroy any one in thier path for the sake of pride is wrong.

Lemony Sugar Cookies

My husband loves sugar cookies. I prefer a cookie with "splash." After many trials this is the concoction we like best.

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Beat margarine and sugar till creamy, blend in the egg then add the milk and lemon extract. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add the two mixes together and blend well. Drop 1 Tablespoon size of the mix onto your baking sheet. Bake at 375* for 10-12 min.

Peroxide: A Cure All?

I was forwarded a message about common peroxide a couple of weeks ago. You can read more about it here. Personally I have started using it as a mouth wash. I have been impressed with it’s results. Maybe I am not a very good tooth brusher. After brushing I wash my mouth out with a cap full of 3% hydrogen peroxide for about 1 min. I noticed extra chunks of food that my tooth brush didn’t get. My husband also stated that my breath has not been as stinky…that is proof enough for me.


I have also been using it to wash my under arms. I thought of this one day as I was applying preassure to a wound with a peroxide soaked towel. I noticed my fingers were bleached. Well, if peroxide will bleach my fingers why not my under arms?
Have you ever noticed that after swimming in a chlorinated pool you B.O. is not so bad? It is because the chlorine kills all the bacteria that create the bad smell. Peroxide is another, maybe not as harsh, bleach. We all know it kills bad stuff.


I have been using 3% peroxide under my arms for a week now and have noticed they are lighter in color and not as smelly. We all know that is a good thing. There is a WARNING with peroxide however. My husband used to be in the medical field. He instructed me not to use peroxide on open wounds. The agent that kills bad guy germs also kills healthy cells. For wounds we wash with anti bacterial soap and apply anti biotic ointment.

Filtering the Mail

I recently picked up a hand out at the post office. It was all about mail fraud. I know we all get junk mail...every day, but some times the con artists say just the right thing or have just the right colors or font to look authentic. In our age of computers any thing is possible.

So how do you identify the junk and place it in 'file 13'? Visit United States Post Office reading room. It's free and there is more info than the booklet I picked up.

The info that made the best impression on me was, "by law any unsolicited material (ie magazine, stickers, books, watch...) is mine to keep, throw away or return to sender." I don't have to give the con artist any money no matter how much pressure s/he puts on. Certainly, never give out your personal information.

Some tools of a con artist are talking fast, fear of running out of time or missing some thing great, requiring money for information. If you become confused or stressed during a phone conversation, it is probably on purpose.

A genuine business person will never make you feel frazzled. So, take your time in making decisions. You can defuse the confusion by making the person on the other end of the line repeat slowly what they have said, you can ask them to repeat it many times. Remember, your time is valuable too. If they don't want to take the time to explain some thing, it can't be worth the time to listen. If it doesn't make sense, it was probably designed not to.

Art at Work

What does art have to do with Home Making? For all you artists out there it is simple. Art is being able to do some thing well naturally. For people like me, we try to make it a science. So many times we try to simplify life into sciences. It just can not be done. Life is art. It is a compilation of all things and can not be simplified. So, live life, enjoy it.

So many times we hear, "simplify." I would love to simplify my life. How can you simplify any of the great works of art?

If you simplify the home you end up with an antiseptic, scientific and ugly home.

But neither can it be disarray. That is ugly too. And many have had a hard time making sense of it.

Home making is an art that if done well is a master piece.