love of lavender

i've wanted to get myself some lavender for a while now.  i feel like there is so much you can do with it!  i finally gave in and bought a 1lb bag from amazon.  that doesn't sound like much... but there is so much in the bag that i don't know what to do with it all (yet).

that's one big bag of lavender!

i have some fun lavender ideas coming up soon.. and hopefully many more in the future.  i am waiting on The Lavender Lover's Handbook from the library and am super excited to see all the great ideas in that book!

DIY liquid hand soap

this was such an easy and fun diy project--making liquid handsoap from bars of soap!

all you need is:
2 bars of soap and a grater
vegetable glycerin
water

to start, you grate the bars of soap (which is actually very quick and easy).

then you put the grated soap into a pot and add 2 tbsp. of vegetable glycerin. (this amount may change depending on the bar of soap you use.  i started with 1 tbsp, and it just wasn't enough).

next you add 10 cups of water.

and heat on the stove until the soap is completely dissolved.

then you let the soap completely cool, and it will be ready to use!  i poured it through a funnel into my soap dispenser and am storing the rest under the sink for future use.  

what a plant knows

i just finished this book the other day.  it is a fascinating book and a quick read.  each chapter covers a different sense and how plants use that sense (what a plant sees, what a plant smells, etc.).  thinking about plants in terms of human "senses" shows how intelligent plants can seem to be.  the book presents intriguing information with scientific studies and findings--but i never felt overwhelmed or inundated with the research.  this book gives an excellent view into the story of plants--a story that most people never think about.  i would definitely recommend this book if you want to learn about a different side of plants.

i also happened to catch a super cool special on PBS called What Plants Talk About.  it was an excellent special and directly related to the book i just read!  how cool is that?

simple homemade toilet bowl cleaner

i recently used up the remainder of our store-bought toilet bowl cleaner, so it was time to create my own homemade version.  we have been using the eco-friendly options from the store for a long time now, but man are those expensive (especially if you have multiple toilets in your house)!  here is my super easy, super quick, inexpensive option that really cleans!

 the ingredients are simply borax, baking soda and tea tree oil!

 measure out 1 cup of baking soda and pour it into your mixing bowl.

 measure out 1 cup of borax and pour it into your mixing bowl.

 mix these ingredients together.

add 1 tsp. of tea tree oil and mix together.  tea tree oil is great to use in this because of its disinfecting properties.  pour your mixture into your toilet bowl and scrub it clean!  as an optional last step you can pour 1 cup of vinegar into the toilet to aid in the cleaning process (plus it is fun to watch it fizz!).  leave the toilet like that for 2 hours and then flush.  then you shall have a super sparkling clean and disinfected toilet! yay!

Redwings Horse Sanctuary

last weekend my husband and i visited Redwings Horse Sanctuary.  i recently read Black Beauty--i never read it as a child.  when i finished reading it, i wanted to be around horses.  i had a desire to spend time with horses that were rescued and would no longer be used and abused by humans.  i did a quick Google search for sanctuaries and found the Redwings Sanctuary was only a couple of hours away by car.

it was so beautiful and peaceful there.  it was at times difficult to hear the back stories of many of these horses (as is usually the case when hearing the stories of many animals in sanctuaries).  but the good news is that i can take comfort in that these amazing horses (and burros!) now have a wonderful home that will take care of them and not use or abuse them for the rest of their lives.  it is definitely a relaxing and rejuvenating experience whenever i go to visit animal sanctuaries--i find it hard to leave and return home.  i would definitely recommend looking for a horse sanctuary or farm animal sanctuary near you to visit--you won't regret it!