Friday Favorite: Great Companies
I love doing business with great companies, the kind you know you can expect service from in the future should a product be defective or wear out before it should. L.L. Bean is one of those companies. I purchased these lovely knee high shearling lined boots about a year ago. I wore them for a few months and then they were retired for the summer.
When I went to put them on yesterday the zipper broke – ACK. I contacted L.L. Bean and they’re going to send me a new pair – YAY.
This is why I purchased these boots instead of other options out there. My parents have been buying from this L.L. Bean since I was a little kid and they’ve always stood behind their products.
Do you have any great companies that you love doing business with?
Share this:
It Snowed….
We’ve had a good deal of snow this week, Mr Chiots and I are happy. We love winter and we LOVE the snow. The snow makes everything lighter and brighter, it inspires me to grab my camera and head outside, inspiration to take pictures has been lacking around here lately. Here are some lovely images from our sunny snowy afternoon yesterday.
Over the past week we’ve received 16″-18″ of snow! Of course the snow brings with it much work, but it’s work we’re thankful for. Sometimes in the winter you need a little extra motivation to get outside and get moving. Plowing and shoveling are good for the body.
What inspires you to get outside this time of year?
Share this:
Ick
I must admit, I’m not a fan of carpet. Back in Ohio, we had managed to remove every last scrap of carpet from our house and replaced it with hardwood. It was perfect, easy to clean and it could be mopped. It was nice to know that all the dirt was gone after a day of cleaning. Carpet gives me the heeby jeebies, I just don’t like that I can’t mop the floor every week. Add chickens into the mix and it really grosses me out. I know I’m always stepping in chicken poop outside, we try to take off our shoes before we come in, but sometimes it’s just not possible. This carpet is right inside the front door.
Thankfully, I have an old carpet cleaner my mom gave me. It’s old, but it works really well still. I used this thing to clean the carpets at our old house and here I am using it again. I’m certainly glad I didn’t get rid of it when we ripped out all the carpet.
As you can see, the carpet was far from clean – YUCK. At least some of the dirt will be gone after this cleaning. I’m using the carpet cleaning mix from The Naturally Clean Home. The recipe is as follows:
Heavy Duty Carpet Cleaner
3/4 cup of very hot water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide (omit for dark colored carpet)
1 Tablespoon of liquid castile soap
1 Tablespoon of citric acid powder (I used borax instead)
Combine all ingredients in mason jar. Blend well, pour into your steam cleaner and clean the carpet.
I’m still debating ripping it out and simply painting the subfloor for a few years, but the resident aged chiots doesn’t like hard flooring surfaces much anymore. This carpeted room is her safety zone where she has great traction. We’re still debating, I certainly can’t wait for the carpet to be gone!
Do you love or hate carpet?
Share this:
Baby Lobster, do, do, do, do
I made a tiny crocheted wool lobster last week, it’s a gift. Someone asked me to make it for them so they could gift it to a family member. It turned out rather nicely for my first amigurumi project.
It’s only about 3 inches long, and is so, so cute. I posted it on my facebook page and now I have orders for four more. They’d make cute Christmas ornaments for sure. I rather enjoyed making this little guy, I hope to get more into amigurimi crochet in the future. Another cottage industry might be born.
Do you ever sell any of your handicrafts?
(in case anyone is interested in the pattern you can find it here)
Share this:
Cultivate Simple 57: Saving Time in the Kitchen
MINIMIZE kitchen stuff. It’s much more efficient to work in a space that is clutter free. You don’t need more than one set of measuring cups or spoon, rinse out after use and put back. Invest in a few quality items that will make cooking easier and much more enjoyable. It’s also easier to maintain such items. Good quality pots are easier to clean than cheap ones.
Don’t fall for the lies, you don’t need 2 vegetables, a fruit, a grain and meat for a meal. sometimes one pot meals are easiest and healthiest!
When making biscuits, don’t roll out and cut in circles, pat into a big circle on the cookie sheet (or big cast iron pan) and cut like a pizza, or roll into balls and fit into a cast iron skillet for baking.
While you’re waiting for one thing to cook, start something else. One day this past week I was baking something and decided I may as well cut and cook up onions for breakfasts while I was working. Boiling a big pot of potatoes once a week is also a great idea, then you at least always have potatoes for a quick meal or to use for breakfasts.
Learn to make a few recipes that can be easily adapted to ingredients. Master the art of making
- Crepes: they’re so easy and can be used for main dishes when stuffed with savory ingredients or with sweet ones like fruit and whipped cream as a healthy snack.
- Omelets: are also a good thing to master, they can be enjoyed for breakfast and dinner and can be stuffed with all the little bits of leftovers that aren’t enough for a meal.
- Soup: is one of the best recipes to learn how to make.
- Hash: throw everything in a skillet with different herbs.
One of the keys for this to work is to learn which herbs/spices pair best with different vegetable & meats.Double or triple every recipe, especially if it’s soup. Freeze them in meal sized containers and you can pull them out of the fridge in the morning before you go to work for dinner that evening. This goes for cookies and stuff as well, double the recipe and freeze half. Or if you don’t want to eat an entire batch of cookies, freeze the cookies already cooked or the cookie dough.
Cook up a few staples at the beginning of the week. Onions are always good to have in the fridge so you can make quick omelets. I like to cook extra potatoes to keep them on hand. You can use them for hash brown for breakfast or as a dinner side. Mashed potatoes can also be made quite easily if needed as a quick side.
Learn to be creative with leftovers and learn to be creative with ingredients. Make a pot of chili, eat chili on night, skip a night then the third night eat chili over baked potatoes with cheese on top. You could also make chili lasagna and throw it in the freezer if you want a third meal option.
Wash dishes as you go when you have bits of time, by the time you’re done with dinner, all the prep dishes will be washed.
Maintain a well stocked pantry, have ingredients on hand all the time for quick meals. Have a few meals that are quick and easy in your repertoire and keep those in mind for busy days. I keep a few jars of home canned tomato soup on hand for such days. Having a well stocked pantry will also mean that you’ll have ingredients on hand when you’re cooking. Maintain a pantry based on your need, not what others say you should have.
Book of the Week
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:41 — 57.5MB)
