Cleaning with natural products instead of chemicals

I had a scare a few weeks ago.I have some cleaner called "Genie cleaner".I bought a whole case of it from a traveling salesman about 10 years ago.I bought it because it seemed to work great and it was "all natural".He even licked the little tube that goes down into the cleaner to show me...:)

It is concentrated though until you mix it and what he licked was mixed.

Anyhow,I don't use any chemical cleaners (well,hardly any).That Genie cleaner was as close to chemical as I have.The other day my 1yo picked up a bottle from under the sink....(I forgot it was even there as I rarely ever use it.) Someone had the lid off! Yes....he tipped that bottle and drank some.I have no idea how much but I assume it wasn't very much.He started choking and gagging on it.I could hear it gurgling in his chest and he ended up throwing up too.To make a long story short,he was fine thank God.I was so thankful though that it wasn't a REALLY bad cleaner! It really scared me.

So I thought I would post about some of my favorite natural cleaners.

I LOVE for my house to smell good.I am not one of those who does not like scent! I really do love scented cleaners.laundry soaps,bleach,fabric softner etc. I used to love to use my Lysol.!I also really miss my Downy! I don't use either anymore(and haven't for years) though because I don't trust them.Anyhow,I really do NOT like to use stuff like plain white vinegar for cleaning.Yuck!

ESSENTIAL OILS are the answer!!!!! :):)

Orange,grapefruit,lemon,cinnamon,tea tree and lemongrass are my favorites!!

For a disinfectant spray mix 3 cups of water.1 cup of vinegar and several drops of essentila oil.

Furniture polish/dusting stuff mix 1 cup oil with 1/4 cup vinegar and several drops of essential oil.

Mix baking soda and salt with several drops of essential oil to make a neat carpet fresh powder.I also like to mix actual cinnamon and cloves in it.Let sit for 15 min and vacuum up.

I like to put several drops of essential oil in my diapers to disinfect them and make them smell good.

Save your orange and lemon peels and put them in a quart jar and cover with vinegar and let sit for 2 weeks.It makes a wonderful citrus smelling vinegar!!!

I used to love air freshener spray and always had it on hand but essentail oil diffusers are much healthier and smell wonderful.You can get plug in kinds or little rings to sit on top of a light bulb in a lamp.

Anyhow,I know this stuff is no secret.Lots of Mammas use natural cleaners but you never know,you might see one that you have never thought of before.If you have any other neat ones please comment and let me know! :)

Snickerdoodles

Everyone is crazy about these cookies and they are cheap and easy to make! My little ones were thrilled today to have them with some fresh,raw milk and my dh is going to love having some with his coffee when he gets home! :)

Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter (or 2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Beat butter,sugar and vanilla.Add eggs and beat.If you are a cook like me,don't mix the dry ingredients in another bowl.....Just put the flour on top of the butter mixture and then the cream of tartar,soda and salt on top of the flour.Stir with a spoon.It mixes together FINE! :) I do it all the time with all of my cookies.

Make large balls of dough and roll in the below mixture.

14/ cup sugar
4 tsp cinnamon

No need to grease the pan :)

Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes or until light brown around the edges.

Don't overbake or they will be crispy! They are still good but not NEAR as good as the crinkly chewy ones! :)

Give them plenty of space as they will spread.

How we divide our chores up

In my last post about scheduling you can see that we do our "territories" or "daily chores" a few times a day.Then we have a 1/2 hour for each person to do a weekly chore.They are chores that only need done once a week and we all have a different one for each day.We do monthly chores on Saturdays.

So...........

Mamma......:)

Territories: Laundry/porch/sweep hard floors/vacuum

WEEKLY chores:

MON-Mop
TUE- Main refrigerator
WED-Sewing room
THUR- Dust/vacuum/clean mirrored doors in our room
FRI-Scrub stove

**12yo ds...

Territories-Downstairs shop/bathroom/bedroom/trash

WEEKLY chores:

MON-Outside pickup
TUE- Vehicle care (Check ALL fluids in all vehicles and grease equipment) He is to let us know what he needs as far as any oil/grease etc.
WED-Bring in the weeks wood
THUR-Barn pickup
FRI-Bird feeders filled

**10yodd...

Territories-Basement and basement stairs picked up and swept/bedroom

WEEKLY chores:

MON-Refrigerator on porch
TUE-Scrub both kitchen sinks and dish strainer
WED-Dust
THUR-Downstairs bathroom
FRI-Cement slab(BIG one) outside in front of house picked up and swept

**7yodd

Territories-Island/Top of stairs/Computer desk/table/bookshelf/hutch (none of these things are usually very dirty so while it sounds like alot,it isn't)

WEEKLY chores:

MON-Hearth around wood stove in living room swept and polished
TUE-Wipe down dressers in bedroom
WED-Vacuum bedroom
THUR-Clean out porch closet
FRI-Coffee station cleaned

**5yods

Territories-Hard floors/living room/bedroom and bring wood upstairs for upstairs stove

WEEKLY chores:

MON-Under couch and chair cushions vacuumed
TUE-Vacuum toy box
WED-His and his little brothers desks organized and wiped
THUR-Tooth paste drawer cleaned and organized
FRI-Organize toys

3yo ds has a few territories but no weekly chores :):)

Fold kitchen towels/Toybox/help bring up wood :)

MONTHLY chores.......

We have 4 sets of chores for 4 weeks.

Organize and wash cabinets
All cobwebs in the entire house and basement mopped
Ceiling fans cleaned and woodwork polished
Pull out appliances (as needed) and van

We will spend a couple of hours every SAT. morning.Everything on the list will be done by the end of the month.After cleaning is tea party time with my girls! :)

FRIDAY is our kitchen day and we eliminate a few things to have more time for it.
TUESDAY Grandma comes down at 12:30 for a craft day and so we adjust things for that too! :)

I think thats it!

Our Fall/Winter schedule

Thanks to Grace I am motivated to post OUR daily schedule! I love seeing what her days look like and so I thought I would post what ours look like! I am not going to be posting it in parts with all sorts of neat pictures......:) That is a much nicer way but I am going to go the easy route and do it all at once! :) Any of you in blogland that schedule...........I would LOVE to see yours! So you should leave a comment telling me that you are going to post your schedule on your blog so I can look at it! :):):)

4:45- Mamma gets served coffee by Daddy.We enjoy our coffee together (sometimes we talk and sometimes we fight to stay awake lol).Then we have our morning prayer together.Children sleep.(*Most* of the time :) )

5:00-Daddy gets ready for work and Mamma gets up to make his lunch.I also make a few quarts of herbal tea.Some for him to take and some for the children and I to drink all throughout the morning.I make it in quarts and then pour it into teapots on the counter.Children sleep.:)

5:30-Daddy leaves with a kiss and Mamma has some quiet time to do whatever she wants.......Which is usually get on MOMYS or read blogs.:) About half of the time I have a nursling on my lap or a toddler.

6:30-Mamma gets up and does her daily chores or "territories" as we call them and wakes the big children to get dressed for the day and do an hour of school (MATH) before little people wake up.(We have one problem here...the little people always wake up.....need to change that :) )

7:00- Mamma works on her 100 push up goal(at 80 now) and does about 5 minutes of ab work.I have about 15 -20 min of free time here to do whatever.I usually pick up or work on breakfast.Big children continue to work on Math.

7:30-Wake little children up (if they are not up) and they get dressed and have a 1/2 hour to relax.Big children do their Morning territories.I make breakfast.

8:00-Everyone eats and the girls clean up the kitchen.

8:30-I prepare the 2 snacks for the day if they need prepared and work on whatever else that happens to need done.I might do some baking,make butter or laundry etc. 12 yo  gets the cows down to milk and then feeds the pigs.10yo feeds the one calf and gathers and washes eggs.Little children do their morning territories.

9:00- Big children (and any tag along little childre) milk the cows.I supervise and also get everything ready for my milk.On MONDAYS,somehwere between 8:00 and 9:00 I will make cheese.

9:30-Children still milking and little children play/milk.I do my WEEKLY chore.I strain my milk when the children bring it in.

10:00-We start school.......We start with everyone praying,we have a short lesson from scripture and go over our verse for the week that we are memorizing.The rest of the 1/2 hour we read whatever fun book we are currently reading from.

10:30-Geography for everyone with Mamma.

11:00-I take 10 minutes each with 3 of the little children(one at a time) alone in my room.We go over what they are to do in their workbooks or we read together.The big children do history and writing.

11:30-We  read Little House On The Prairie and go over thge days lesson out of the "Prairie Primer".

12:00- I make lunch with the little boys while the big children do Prairie Primer work.

12:30- Time to eat lunch and I have a few minutes on the computer.The boys do lunch cleanup.

1:00-I lay down with the baby for a nap.The little boys have "blanket time" on my bedroom floor.Each day of the week they have a different container of toys to play with.They may not get off the blanket except to use the bathroom and they must be quiet.The big children are in one spot and alternating days of Science/Latin and Language lessons.They too may not get up except for to use the bathroom.

1:30- All big children may read whatever they like but they still have to stay put.

2:00 I have an hour to wake up,exercise for 20-30 minutes and then shower and get myself ready for Daddy getting home.The children have an hour play break but they have to watch the baby.Ds 12 for the first 1/2 hour and Dd 10 the second 1/2 hour.

3:00- I start supper while the children go over their territories.

3:30- All of the children do their weekly chores and I clean up the kitchen.

4:00- Everyone is FREE :):) Sometime between 3:30-5:00 Daddy gets home and we sit and talk with him.Daddy and I have coffee on the couch and talk.The children are usually surrounding us but they may NOT get on the couch with us at this time :):).Hey,if Mamma does not set some boundaries she may NEVER have any time with Daddy! :)

Once Daddy is home we don't have much of a schedule.My oldest ds is usually doing some farm work with my dh and the girls may help me with whatever or they play.We try to make sure they have plenty of free/fun time.I aim for supper to be done at 6:00 but I am sad to say that I don't do a very good job at it.I am trying to do better at sticking to the schedule! I do kitchen cleanup.8:00 Daddy reads a chapter from the Bible and prays.Children go to bed at 8:30 and lights out at 9:00.Dh and I then have about an hour together before we need to go to bed.Thursday nights I do not go to bed with dh but try to stay up and clean or whatever I want.(I love to stay up late! :) )

This is our WEEKDAY schedule.

SATURDAYS my dh is home and we sleep in till about 7:00.....We have coffee and a late breakfast.....Then he is off doing farm work.The girls and I do monthly chores and then have a tea party.The rest of the day is just whatever is going on.

SUNDAYS we rest and enjoy as much as possible!We also have church together.(home church)

My next post will be what our "Daily" (territories),Weekly and Monthly chores are.

Being the mothers we should be!

I know that we all struggle to keep the important things in mind and not let things like messy houses or fussy children make US fussy.The following child training advice is from a variety of mothers on MOMYS.Wondeful stuff that I thought I would share here.

1.Mean what you say/ say what you mean.From day one! When you tell your 18 mo to "come" ,don't laugh when he runs the other way.MEAN what you say.Be consistent.Don't expect *anything* to work if you aren't consistent.Keep your children with you and include them in the things that you do.There is no better "school" than that.Nip negative behaviour in the bud the first time it comes up instead of letting a bad habit develop.Speak kindly and don't speak more than once.SMILE and savor every moment with your precious children!

2.Don't treat them like children. Treat them like little adults. They have egos too and deserve the same respect and consideration that you would give anyone. Act the way you want them to act. Tolerate nothing in yourself that you wouldn't tolerate in them. Require obedience. If they can't obey you, they won't learn to obey God either. Expect them to make mistakes. Never belittle them.

3.Keep YOUR heart right with God. Pray daily for your children. Don't parent by the seat of your pants. Have a plan in place. Work toward lifetime goals as well as immediate. Pick your battles, and make sure the ones you pick, you win. Seek the counsel of Scriptures as well as those who have gone on before you. Acknowledge each child's differences (strengths and weaknesses) and train them accordingly. At least daily, hug 'em and tell 'em ya love 'em. Get a hold of their hearts, not just their actions.

4.Make sure that you are not so consumed by the little things that you forget to enjoy them. Often when you enjoy your children, the little things vanish away. Be consistant, but don't be surprised if they always will surprise you and stay on your toes at all time!

5.Refuse to parent by guilt.

   Train 'em until you like 'em.
   Begin as you mean to end.
   Just because you think it, doesn't mean you have to say it.

6.Love them more than yourself.

And.....If you don't want the 85 pound dog up on the couch, you can't let the 5 pound puppy up there!' Seems to apply to kids too .

7. Set boundaries that stick so there is not question of what is right and wrong.Don't be lazy and ignore behaviours, or look over it b/c you are busy.Be consistant....realize they are people with feeling, not someone you just get to boss around. Love them and nurture them.After obedience is obtained, work on matters of the heart..... helping them grow closer to the Lord.Show them in the word why you have the rules you do, (this is a biggy with us) we dont just want to demand things of them, we want them to know it is what God demands of them.


Take time to talk to them, read to them kiss them, you may have to walk over the toys but they are so precious and we don't have enought time to put them off until later.

8. Don't expect your children to act exactly like "Sally down the road's" children unless you yourself are willing to act like "Sally down the road"

9. Love their daddy.

Let your children hear you pray for them.
Make your yes mean yes and your no mean no.(Matthew 5:37)

10. Show a united front with their Daddy in front of them.

11. If you can't nip it at the knee, you won't catch it at the elbow!

12. Treat your children the way you wish to be treated, and become a better person yourself. I also think it is important to think long term. The days of discipline seem long and arduous, but if you can look ahead and stick with it, the rewards will be so great. You will be glad you trained your two year old to obey and be nice when that two year old is a teenager. I enjoy my teens enormously, especially my teen who was a very difficult two year old!

13. Never do anything for them that they can do for themselves.

      Never let them get away with anything.

14. Never, never, never, NEVER, give up.

15.  Be consistent, be gentle, keep your relationship with them a priority after their relationship with the Lord. Treat them as you would want to be treated, and have FUN with them! Sure they can snap up their own pajamas-- but remember how loved and cherished you felt when your mom snapped up your pajamas or buttoned up your coat when you just needed to have a little TLC? Treat them as dear friends who are about to leave soon....because they are!

Children are truly a gift from the Lord!

16.  We love HIM because He first loved us. Establish love *first*.


Love fosters trust. We need our children to trust that we are disciplining and training them for *their* best interest: translated Gods glory.

So love first and then obedience, based on love (Gods glory) not convenience for ourselves.

There are not 2 Bibles, one for children/youth and 1 for adults, that must mean God wants our children to obey the same commands/precepts we do. The Bible is not just for adults to live by it is for our children too.

There is only 1 command specifically and exclusively for children in the New Testament....Honor your Mother and Father.

Joy, we must joy and delight in our children. God told Jesus *this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased*. We need to convey the same delight in our children.

We have to make our homes, and lifestyles more appealing than the world. We do that by cultivating love, joy and peace in our homes.

Be willing to admit that 95% of EVERY problem we have with our children is a direct result of a deficit somewhere in our parenting.

Repent to God and children when we fail.

So simple but so huge. SMILE!

17. Pray daily for the grace to let them go...Meaning pray for strength to train them for the Lords service. (maybe thats more for momma training)


Take the time to listen before you assume.

Teach your children how to respect you, by respecting them

Hard work will keep them humble and grateful

Foolish boys will be foolish men.

Lazy girls will be lazy women.

Make them do work over and over until it is done right and perfectly! I NEVER allow things to be half way done.

Give your children the opportunity to give..it does amazing things for their heart!

Keep them close by you..it will keep you both doing what you should be.

The newest addition to our family!

LILY! :)

This is my dh's birthday present from my family.:) He always wanted a pug and they bought him one! She is SO neat.She is quiet,calm,seems very smart and loves even the baby! I just thought I would post a quick picture of her! :)

We have company!!!!!

I love company! Anyone want to come visit?

Anyhow,we are having a wonderful time.I am cooking up a storm.I love to cook for company!Breakfast was homemade waffles with our *own* maple syrup and sausage patties.We are just snacking for lunch and supper will be bacon/cheese stuffed shells,a large salad and HM garlic toast.Dessert....Pumpkin cheesecake with HM whipped cream and maple syrup! Here in a few minutes my girls and I are making a batch of fudge to give to Grandpa for his birthday.My dh took one of his vacation weeks while his Dad is here (from out of state) !!! I am just LOVING having him home!!!!!! I have him here for 5 more days! He and his Dad are doing all kinds of projects here around the farm including putting 1,000 feet of water line in to our top barn so they are busy,busy,busy and I am having fun keeping everyone fed! :) Us ladies are going to the city wide yard sales this weekend and that is going to be a blast! My favorite place to shop.I have a teething baby who is being clingy and making it hard for Mamma to get anything done! :):) Poor guy has 4 of his back teeth coming in and they look SO painful.

Anyhow,the point of this post is to talk about hospitality and the things I have been learning about it.I have *always* loved company but am realizing that I can sometimes have a bad attitude now and then.*Especially* with women.I hate to say it but it is true,I don't blink an eye at serving men.I LOVE it! Working my tail off for another woman is something entirely different.:) Where I come from,the women all work together.We serve the meal and clean up afterwards and have a great time.:) I have learned that not all women are like this!

SO I am really trying to keep any ugly attitudes away.To make sure that the smile on my face is sincere and that I am not just pasting it on outwardly while screaming inwardly! I want to try and remember that things are not always what they seem and to just have a servants heart.Someone elses attitude is not my responsibility!Only my own!

All that really matters to me is that I have an attitude that is pleasing to the Lord!

 I want to be a wife that my husband can depend on and be proud of.Not one that has an attitude about anything.How miserable to have a wife who embarrasses you in front of company! I hope I have never embarrassed my husband.He says that I haven't and I hope to keep it that way!

I just want to make sure that I have a true servants heart and am truly happy INSIDE to serve others.Not just outwardly!Those bad attitudes can creep in so easily.

I have something wonderful to report though! I have been THRILLED to know inside that this patient mother that I am being in front of company is the same mother that has been here for the last month! She didn't just visit while company was here! It feels better than I can even explain so I won't bother trying.I just can't thank God enough though for this wonderful new attitude.

Well,this has been a badly put together post but oh well! I don't have a whole lot of time....Off to make fudge!