Overnight Sty Relief

Over the course of my 23 years, I have been a victim of the common sty a handful of times. It's an irritating red bump that appears right along the line of your eye lashes, on the top or bottom lid. A sty is an infection of a gland in your eyelid. They look something like this:

Fucking gross, right? What kind of person wants to run around with something like this on their face all day, for DAYS? I remember, the first time I got one, I had no idea what had happened. I went to the ophthalmologist and he prescribed an ointment, and when I got to the pharmacy, it was $50! I refused the prescription and went to my next (and always greatest) source, my momma. She recommends taking a Q-Tip, dipping it into Johnson's Baby Soap, and running it along the lash line. This will clean the area and in turn help with the infection!


GENIUS!

Moss Art

I just stumbled upon an absolutely fascinating form of art I never, ever would have considered.

Moss Art.

Don't you want in on this green-art-goodness? Why yes, of course you do. Follow the instructions below!

You'll need:

Blender

3 Handfuls of Moss

3 cups lukewarm water

1/2 c buttermilk or yogurt

Bucket

Brush

Spray bottle

Combine the moss and water in the blender.  Add milk or yogurt. Blend until a gel forms. Transfer it to a bucket and proceed to your canvas of choice. (It appears that concrete or wood is recommended.) Apply the moss in any fashion you choose. Mist your creation once a week and watch it grow!

HOW FREAKING AWESOME IS THAT!!?

Do It Yourself: Powdered Sugar!

Who even knew you could make your own powdered sugar? Not me, that's for damn sure!

You'll need the following:


High Speed Blender
Granulated Sugar
Corn Starch


With my particular blender, I have to make small batches of powdered sugar, because I've found that the more sugar I put in the blender, the less "powdered" it becomes. I usually drop about 1/3c sugar into the blender with 1-2 tsp of corn starch. Blend together for about 30 seconds. Let the "sugar smoke" settle before taking the lid off the blender. Reach in and touch the consistency of the sugar. If it feels gritty still, blend until the final product comes out smooth. I usually have to blend 3-4 times before getting the powdery consistency. I transfer it to a glass jar and keep it for all my baking needs! This really is exactly how companies like Domino make powdered sugar, it's absolutely no different than regular powdered sugar from the store. It just costs less! :)

Tasting the Vodka Rainbow

Christmas was very homemade this year. I found a tutorial online on infusing vodka with Skittles.

You will need:

-A huge bag of Skittles
-Five separate bottles
-A large bottle of quality vodka

I deposited 80 Skittles of each flavor in each bottle. I used 8 oz of vodka in each 10 oz bottles. Seal it up tight and shake, shake, shake!

I let my bottles sit around for a few days, but you can do the next step as soon as the Skittles are completely dissolved. There will be a white funk floating in the top of each bottle. I think this is the xanthum gum.

The funky white shit must be strained out or otherwise removed. I put a wire sieve over a 4 cup measuring cup (with a convenient pour spout) and placed a coffee filter in it. Pour the contents of the bottle slowly out through the filter and sieve. (You may need to change the coffee filter out due to cloggage.)

Rinse out bottle and pour vodka back into bottle. Seal tightly.

Repeat this with each bottle. You can even filter the vodka through a water filter before or after Skittling.

I gifted mine with a tag on each one with a different recommendation on how to enjoy them. Sprite, club soda, tonic water...On the rocks, in a cocktail, or shots!

Enjoy!

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The Rebirth of Saturday

I was recently awarded Saturdays off....this past weekend was my first week of having Friday and Saturday off work. I documented a bit of our day with photos....My boyfriend and I love going to garage sales...and we saw some pretty interesting things!


All these unique items were spotted at a garage sale on Mandeville Street. It was at an old firehouse that was originally a horse-drawn carriage fire house! How neat is that?! I have to wonder about the doll babies eyes, though....that must've been one angry child...

                        

  

This photo was snapped at Inferno Art Gallery at 3000 Royal Street.

We stopped over at K-Doe's Mother-in-Laws Lounge because they are closing for good. So sad to see them go...but we got some good deals over there! Check out the EXTREMELY creepy wax version of K-Doe....talk about weird. And that little red cart now resides in my house, after a bit of cleaning up...It's just to die for! 

Our night ended with bicycle ride across the river, via the Algiers Ferry, to see the first Christmas Bonfire since Hurricane Katrina. It was my first Christmas bonfire, too. It was so much fun. I couldn't help but laugh as I said, "Santa's burning up in the fire!!" while little children passed by. I heard them painfully say, "Saaannnttaaa?" BAHAHAHAHA

Homemade Laundry Detergent

It's so easy and affordable to make your own laundry detergent at home. It consists of 3 ingredients which are, for the most part, easy to find! You'll need Borax, washing soda, and a bar of any kind of soap. You'll also need something to keep your homemade detergent in (hence the coffee tin!), and a grater to grate your bar of soap.

I found the Borax at my local supermarket, Rouse's, in the laundry aisle. The 55oz box cost me about $3.75. The Arm and Hammer Washing Soda was a little more difficult for me to find, and I actually looked for both of these ingredients all over town, but I could only find the Borax locally. The washing soda was $2 from www.alice.com, which is a pretty neat website despite the fact that you must by at least 5 items in order for them to ship your order. But I can assure you, if you order from the site, you can find 5 things to buy. They also do not charge for shipping! You can use scented or unscented soap, and if you feel really adventurous, you can scent your finished laundry detergent with essential oils.  

-Grate the bar of soap over a bowl

-Add 1 cup Borax

-Add 1 cup Washing Soda

-Mix together and store in an air tight container!

Use 1 scoop per load of laundry. For heavily soiled clothes, use two scoops, or add another cleaning agent like OxyClean.

I've been using this method for at least 6 months now, and I'm still on my first boxes of washing soda and Borax! I don't think I've spent more than $10 total!

Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

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• 
  
• For a delicious holiday treat, try baking these amazing molasses cookies. They come out soft and chewy. (Unless you over bake them, of course, and then you can call them ginger snaps!) They have become a holiday favorite! For an extra hint of Christmas cheer, try rolling the cookies in red or green (or both) sugar. Yummmmm!!
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• 1 1/2 cups shortening, melted and cooled
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt

Direction

-Melt the shortening in a large pan on the stove, and cool.

-Add sugar, eggs, and molasses, beat well.

-In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together and add to the pan. Mix well and chill 3 hours or overnight.

-Form into walnut-size balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart

-Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. 

-Store in an airtight container to keep from getting overly crisp. If they do lose their softness, an easy way to restore it is to place one slice of fresh bread in the container with the cookies for a couple of hours or overnight and they will be soft again! (Say what!? Great trick to know!)