Repurposed Items for Your Yard and Garden

I've been looking through yard and garden magazines while I'm vacationing at my mom's and found several great ideas for repurposing items that I thought were worth sharing:

* Old bowling balls......use one in place of a gazing ball in your garden. The marbled ones look prettiest and are much more durable than a glass gazing ball. Just place them hole side down on the base of a birdbath or gazing ball stand and voila!

* Half-gallon plastic milk or juice jug.....cut away the bottom of the jug, then cut out the handle side of the jug almost to the handle in an oval shape. Now you have a scoop for birdseed, potting soil or anything else you need to scoop. Be sure to leave the cap on the end of the jug.

* Plastic hair pick.....add it to your garden tools to gently loosen the roots of root-bound plants.

* Old mailbox.....mount an old mailbox on a post in your gardening area to hold your small gardening tools. This keeps them close at hand but out of the weather. Put the flag up to remind yourself that a tool needs to be put back. Put the flag down to show that everything has been put away. Make it pretty by painting your old mailbox with a garden or floral theme.

* Plastic milk crate/storage cube....if you have a milk crate or storage cube you are no longer using, give it a new life as a holder for pole-mounted yard art that you store away during the winter months. Put one pole in each opening and it will be much easier to separate them when Spring comes.

* Another use for discarded bowling balls.....paint them to look like garden creatures. The ones I saw were painted like oversized ladybugs and were really cute! To stabilize them paint them so that the hole is the "belly" and place it on a short stake.

I hope these ideas are helpful to you. I'd love it if you would comment with other ideas on repurposing items in the yard or garden!

Getting Back to Nature

Natural Remedies

This came to me on email from a friend and I wanted to share it with my readers....lots of good uses for honey and cinnamon. I don't know where these were tested and if they all actually work but some of them may be worth a try.

Facts on Honey and Cinnamon:

It is found that a mixture of honey and cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as a "Ram Ban" (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, in its issue dated 17 January, 1995, has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by Western scientists:

HEART DISEASES:
Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also those who have already had an attack, if they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.

ARTHRITIS:
Arthritis patients may take daily, morning, and night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.

BLADDER INFECTIONS:
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder.

TOOTHACHE:
Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be applied three times a day until the tooth stops aching.

CHOLESTEROL:
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured. According to information received in the said journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.

COLDS:
Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.

UPSET STOMACH:
Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.

GAS:
According to the studies done in India and Japan, it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.

IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.

INDIGESTION:
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.

INFLUENZA:
A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural Ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

LONGEVITY:
Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also increases and even a 100 year old, starts performing the chores of a 20-year-old.

WEIGHT LOSS:
Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

CANCER:
Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.

FATIGUE:
Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.

Earth Hour

On March 29th, people everywhere turned off their lights–to make a statement, to help find new ways to reduce their impact on the environment, and to start a movement that ends with a solution to the common challenge we all face.....

To read more about his incredible event click here: Earth Hour

If you participated in Earth Hour 2008 please post a comment and tell us how not having electricity for one hour impacted your life.

Clean Green

I just received these tips on email from my sister-in-law and wanted to share them here with you!

Go GREEN when you Clean

Homemade Drain Cleaner

2 cups baking soda
2 cups salt, regular table, kosher or rock
½ cup cream of tartar

Combine and mix all of the ingredients in a covered container. Label and keep out of reach of children.

To Use:
Boil 2 cups of water on the stove. Pour ¼ cup of the cleaner mixture down the drain and follow immediately with half of the boiling water. Wait 30 minutes and repeat. Flush with cold water when second application is finished.

Suggested Use:
Use this drain cleaner once a week and you should find that your kitchen drain will remain clean and free flowing.



Unexplained but often successful cleaning tips:

The following are some tips that have been shared with us that have been known to work, but the why they work is a mystery.


To shine metal, use a cork from a bottle of red wine.
Ketchup will remove tarnish from copper.
Worcestershire sauce will shine brass.

Dry Carpet Cleaner
This mixture is meant to be used dry to refresh a carpet’s smell. When you sprinkle it on the carpet, it may look messy, but it does a great job.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup cornstarch
4-5 bay leaves, crumbled
1 tablespoon ground cloves

Mix all ingredients together and store in air-tight container with lid. Label and keep in a safe place, out of reach of children.

To use:
If possible, plan on leaving the mixture on your carpet overnight. Shake the container to mix, and then sprinkle liberally over the carpet to be cleaned. Close the doors to the room that that pets or children are dissuaded from the rug, and then vacuum thoroughly the next day.

My rescued pet

Hi everyone.....meet Beau, the newest little boy in our family! Doesn't he look sweet? My husband calls him our "miracle dog". Beau was abandoned about half a mile from our house and came to us one afternoon about a month ago covered in ticks and fleas and very, very hungry. I called the nearby neighbors to be sure he didn't belong to anyone and after no one claimed him he became our little boy. He immediately got a good bath and annointed with tick drops and a flea collar and has been my little shadow every since. I took him in to the vet for a check over and found out he is about 6 months old and a full-blood Jack Russell terrier. Beau is very well-mannered and is already housebroken and has claimed his spot on the foot of the recliner or the bed (when he isn't IN the bed, completely under the covers and at the foot of the bed). As you can see in these photos, Beau was very lucky to find a family to love him.

Cleaning Au Natural

What could be better than cleaning your home with all natural cleaners? While I was browsing blogs one evening I came upon this lovely website, French General. As well as having absolutely lovely antique French textiles, there are also wonderful tips and recipes for making and using organic cleaning products which can be found in the Au Natural section of the website. I can't wait to try these chemical-free cleaning products in my home!

Recycled Decor - Cottage Bedroom

How I turned THAT to THIS!

I was aiming for a "shabby cottage" look when I started redecorating this room. First, I painted the paneled walls a color called White Chocolate...yum! I got a real bargain on a scalloped floral wallpaper border at a local store for only $3 a roll in the clearance bin and it was perfect for the look I wanted to achieve. With that done, I began looking for curtains, and came up with a pair of matching embroidered sheer white floor-length panels and topped them with a pair of lace valances also in white....these were yard sale and thrift store finds. The off-white crochet-edged comforter and matching bed skirt were also thrift store finds, although I bought the bed skirt several years before I bought the comforter. I think I paid about $15 for both pieces. The vintage patchwork quilt on the end of the bed came from the antique shop my husband used to own so it was a freebie. I found the crochet throw at a thrift store for a couple of dollars. I think the bed itself was the hardest item to find because I wanted just the "right" bed for this room. I finally found it sitting outside a fleamarket in a neighboring town. It had been white but was weathered and chippy when I found it.....and best of all, I only paid $10 for it!


Above the bed is an old window frame that I hung another thrift store lace curtain behind and used as wall decor. The nightstand came from a local second-hand store, and the lamp was actually two purchases. The lamp base was a $3 yardsale find and the shade came from the clearance aisle at a discount store. On the side of the room you can't see in the pictures, is a beautiful old 1930s era dresser that I painted white (as I recall, I paid about $25 for it at an auction). I decided to enhance the "shabbiness" of the decor with the two old mirrors, that I only paid a few dollars for, and left them chippy like they were when I got them. Since these photos were taken I have also added a 1930's overstuffed armchair upholstered in rose pink satin that I bought from a friend for $25. So for only a few dollars I think I achieved the shabby cottage style I was trying for in this bedroom. What do you think?