Plastic Soda Pop Bottle Purse

Did you know that 80% of plastic bottles aren't recycled? They end up in the landfills and take nearly 700 years to BEGIN decomposition.

I live in Oregon where recycling is a big thing. Every week the city comes by our house and hauls our recyclables away, along with the trash. In fact, here in Oregon it's almost a sin if you don't recycle.

Children and the homeless appreciate our recycling laws too. For every soda can or empty pop bottle they collect, they can receive 5 cents at the local grocery stores. A great way to make some easy cash.

Here is a clever use for a plastic pop bottle. It was designed by Zitta Schnitt, an industrial Design student from Vienna. www.flickr.com/photos/miulein/437902193.

Made from the bottoms of two 20 oz plastic bottles with some simple stitching and a zipper. It could be a hip green change purse, (paired with one of my pop can purses of course!) a travel container, first aid kit etc.

A simple DIY project that is sure to spark many conversations!

Ohhh I want to eat that bacon!

It's a hilarious sight to watch our 8 month old dog Shyla with our Guinea Pigs. She want's to play with them so badly...or maybe chew on them a little bit. I'm not sure which.

They just don't seem to catch her playful spirit however, so she lies next to them and sniffs, and smells. Oh the yummy smell of Bacon!

When the piglets are in their outside cage, Shyla tries to play Hide and Seek.

She counts, they hide.

She waits. They hide.

Eventually giving up, Shyla goes away and the piglets come out.

When the weather is too hot, or too cold, we take the piggies out of their home and bring them inside.

On those occasions, Shyla will go into their house looking for them.

When she can't find them, she lovingly cleans their house.

She licks the floor, cleans up the scraps of food they leave lying around. Most admirably of all she tidies up their bathroom - leaving nothing behind. They don't call them dogs for nothing.

When her cleaning is done, Shyla gleefully runs to give us a juicy lick on the face.

Please excuse me, I'm feeling an overwhelming need to go take a shower.

Pillsbury Oatmeal Carmelita bars

I recently made this recipe for Pillsbury Oatmeal Carmelita Bars. Oh...Heaven help me. They were chocolaty, buttery, and gooey with caramel. They were so addicting I couldn't stop myself from eating them...one after another. If you're a dessert Junkie like me, BEWARE. You might not want to read on.

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Prep: 30 min.

Cook: 30 min.

Cool: 2 hours

Yield: 36 bars

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quick cooking oats

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)

Filling:

1 12.5 oz jar caramel ice cream topping (1 cup)

3 Tbl. all-purpose flour

16 oz pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

To make crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and butter.

I doubled this recipe when I made it so my mixing bowl is really, really full. 

Mix at low speed until crumbly.

Reserve half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of greased pan. Bake for 10 min.

 
Meanwhile, prepare filling:

In a small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 Tbl. flour, blend well.

Remove partially baked crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; 

Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. 

Return to oven; bake an additional 18-22 min. or until golden brown. Cool 1 hr. or until completely cooled. Refrigerate 1-2 hrs. or until filling is set.

Cool 1 hr. or until completely cooled. Refrigerate 1-2 hours or until filling is set. Cut into bars.

Delicious with a cold glass of milk.

Floral Preservative Recipe

Don't you hate it when you spend money on a beautiful flower arrangement and it dies within a few days? I've had friends who simply refuse to spend money for flowers anymore. They've told their husbands not to either. I understand that that feeling, however I love flowers too much to give up on them. 

This fresh flower arrangement (purchased from the grocery store) has lasted for nearly two weeks. Below are some tips I've found that help flowers last longer:

1) I place the flowers outside each night where the air is cooler than inside my house. Professional florists place their bouquets in refrigerators at night.

2) I change the water daily and re cut the stems. 

3) I mix a homemade flower preservative and put it into the water each day.

Below is a recipe to make your own floral preservative. It works for me!

Home made floral preservative

1-2 drops bleach

1 tsp sugar

a squeeze of lemon juice or couple drops of vinegar

Chores...

Yep.

We all have em'.

Can I show you something that absolutely cracked me up?

This is my 16 year old daughter.
What she is doing is pretty obvious. 
What cracks me up is the drama surrounding it.

Get a load of all that "self protection" she is wearing.

P.S. Em... I love ya.

Where can you find a Thunderegg?

If you're a rock hound looking for Thundereggs, head to Eastern Oregon's Richardson Rock Ranch. 

We discovered Richardson Rock Ranch during a recent vacation to nearby Kahneeta Warm Springs Indian Reservation. 

Kahneeta is our base camp for taking day trips to the surrounding areas for activities such as horse rides, kayaking or rafting down the Deschutes, exploring caves,

 

and recently, hunting for Agates and Thundereggs at Richardson Rock Ranch.

The world famous Ranch is located 11 miles North of the little town of Madras Oregon.

It is a working cattle ranch that offers rockhounds the opportunity to hunt for hidden treasures in the rich agate and opal beds that lie within the ranch.

Upon entering the ranch, you're greeted by beautiful Peacocks waiting to dazzle you with their feathers.

A stop at the Rock Shop to pick up maps, digging instructions and tools then you're on your way to finding buried treasure!

The digging sites are located at the end of a bumpy 8 mile dirt road.

Fresh digging sites are created by bulldozers to make rock hunting and digging easier for visitors.

The day was very hot so my family only spent only 45 minutes digging. We found 3 thundereggs. This is what they looked like on the outside. Can you see the small parts of agate on the exterior? That gives a clue to what's inside! 

Back at the Rock Shop our Thundereggs were weighed and cut for a small fee: $1.00/lb., and only 25 cents/square inch for cutting.

The suspense of waiting to see what was inside was both painful and exciting. In the end, we were thrilled at what we saw!

Thundereggs make great souvenirs to take home and provide an ongoing opportunity to learn about geology, mother nature and the formation of our planet.

Richardson Rock Ranch is open weather permitting. During the summer bring plenty of water to drink and plan to get dirty.

Multnomah Falls - A great afternoon hike near Portland

Here in Portland, you don't need to travel far to see breathtaking scenery.

Drive 26 miles east to the Columbia River Gorge and you'll find spectacular views of Mother Nature's Artistry.

This past weekend, I took a hike in the Columbia Gorge to the top of Multnomah falls with my daughter and our dog.

The 1.5 miles vertical incline was a great workout. To distract ourselves from tiring muscles, we snapped photos. Maidenhair and Sword ferns grew abundantly along the eleven switchbacks to the top of the falls.

Once we reached the top, we were greeted by a rambling river of melted snow from Mt. Hood.  

The crystal clear pools are shallow and provided refreshing relief for our tired feet. Huge boulders gave us a place to sit and soak in the surrounding beauty.

A short walk further gave us a scary vantage point where the water spills over the edge to create Multnomah Falls. We realized how high up we were by how small the cars looked in the parking lot below.

After the hike down, we purchased a cold drink and ice cream from the lodge. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful afternoon.

How to treat a burned tongue...and other interesting uses for common Household ingredients

Did you know that peanut butter can be used to remove scratches from DVD's and C'D's? Or Koolaid to clean your toilet? I wonder who figured THAT out? Read on for more fascinating uses for common ingredients. You might be amazed.

1. Budweiser beer or any other, conditions the hair 
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish 
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes 
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair 
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads, if any. 

6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea 
7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water 
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste 
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it! 
10. Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too 

11 Bee stings - meat tenderiser 
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H 
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H 
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals) 
15. Stinky feet - Jello ! 

16. Athletes feet - cornstarch 
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff) 
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it! 
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper 

21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray 
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby 
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls 
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on 
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar ! 

26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice! 
27 Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak 
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle ofclub soda and cup of milk of magnesia , soak for 20 min. And let dry, will last for many years! 
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's! 
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste 

31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absorb into the salt. 
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel. 
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. Rub with Peanut butter! 
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get aBounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets , soak overnight! 
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it! 

36. Dirty grout - Listerine 
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate toothpaste
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup 
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola , it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries! 
40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again. 
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a littleClorox , or 2 Bayer aspirin , or just use 7-up instead of water. 

42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness?

Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week?

 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie. 
They are: 
Monday = Blue
Tuesday = Green 
Thursday = Red 
Friday = White 
Saturday = Yellow. 
So, if today was Thursday, you would want a red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)!

The colors go alphabetically by colour Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember.

I thought this was interesting.

I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors.

You learn something new everyday!

Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping. 

Don't forget Gatorade for Migraine Headaches.

PowerAde won't work.

Thanks Mom for sending this. Think I'll try the Slinky idea!

Lollipop Lollipop, oh Lolli Lollipop...

We think we have the best little doggie in the world.
Her name is Shyla.
We love her.
She loves us.

And she loves food.
Human Food.
It's a bad thing.
We know.
"No more food from the dinner table!"
We're learning.
Well, most of us are.

Shyla knows that anything my son eats is really, really good. She hovers by his side whenever he has food. Silently sitting and sniffing the air. She waits for the tiniest morsel to be dropped on the floor. If too much times passes with no action, she'll whimper. And then...suddenly, it happens. Something...like this:





Ohhhh. Yuck.

Too late.
She's hooked.

I dash for my camera while yelling back over my shoulder, "Son please don't put that back into YOUR mouth!" Thankfully he responds, "Mom, that would be gross."

Instinctively Shyla knows to lick a lollipop and not bite it.

I wonder what she would do with a popsickle?

NO! You didn't hear ME say that!

Adjusting your Camera Settings for the proper light source

I have a simple point and shoot digital camera (Casio Exilm 10.1 megapixels). I take tons of pictures everywhere I go because the camera is small enough to fit into my fanny pack.

I usually don't take time to read the directions for using my photo equipment but prefer to jump right in and learn as I go. I don't recommend this approach, but it's how I tend to operate. 

Recently, I decided to experiment with the various choices my camera gives me for light sources.  I wondered, "does it really make a difference? Can't I just leave my camera set to Automatic and get the best quality pictures anyway?" Well, let's take a look and find out...

Below are samples of a Gerbera Daisy photographed in my kitchen, at night. My light source is is overhead recessed can lights with fluorescent bulbs designed to simulate natural light. All of the photos are straight out of my camera and have not been altered. The light source settings on my camera are listed below each photo.

1) Camera Setting: Auto WB lighting

(Not too bad. Maybe color is a bit on the pale side.)

2) Camera Setting: Daylight

(This looks too dark.)

3) Camera Setting: Overcast

(Still too dark)

4) Camera Setting: Shade

(Waaay too dark)

5) Camera Setting: Day WHITE Fluorescent

(Not bad though a little washed out.)

6) Camera Setting: Daylight Fluorescent

(Yes! That's pretty accurate for how it looked in person.)

7) Camera Setting: Tungsten Light

(Blek. Way too flat.)

Conclusion:

Photo 1 looks good. The camera was set on Auto for the light source.

But...Photo 6 looks the best. For this photo, I took the time to manually adjust the setting for the proper light source. It looks richer, more colorful and the most accurate representation of what my eye was actually seeing at the time I snapped the picture.

So to answer my question - Yes I can leave my camera on the Auto settings and the photos will look alright. But if I take just a moment longer to look at my light source and manually adjust the camera settings, my photo will look the best. If I decide to alter the photo later in Photoshop - for better color as an example, the end result will still look better because I started with the most accurate light source settings from the start. 

Try your own experiment with your camera. A picture is worth a thousand words in the owners manual!