Homemade Substitutes

I had baking powder on my grocery list.  While at the store I decided to try a different brand. I have tried every brand they make from the most expensive to the cheapest and honestly I do not see much of a difference. Anyway, while looking at the Bobs Redmill section of the store I got a little distracted. The store I was at had like all their products it seemed. I was looking and touching every package. I gave myself a mental slap and got back to the task at hand. I grabbed the baking powder and came home. A few days later I was making pancakes and grabbed the baking powder and it was baking soda. I even wondered how on earth I could have grabbed the wrong thing. FYI look carefully when buying the Bobs Redmill brand. The baking soda and baking powder are very similar in packaging. Now I understand why other brands have the soda in the square boxes and the powder in the round ones.

So whats a girl to do? It was pancake Sunday and both my guys were expecting pancakes! I knew I had read that you could make baking powder but I had never made it because I never had cream of tartar. That is an ingredient some recipes call for in meringue, which by the way I hate meringue but had bought some to make my hubby a pie. So I mixed the powder and the cream of tarter together, put in a recycled spice jar and used my normal amount. While waiting for my butter to melt in the pan to cook the pancakes my batter had risen in the bowl. That never happens.

The pancakes were so light and fluffy. I have made them one other time since Sunday and they came out just as beautiful. I think I will just be making my own baking powder from now on.

Its kind of funny that I never made it before because I am one of those people who think things should have multiple purposes. I dont buy brown sugar because you can make it with sugar and molasses. Molasses is a great ingredient to have when baking. Put a little in our baked beans next time or make ginger snap cookies. Yum!
I dont buy self rising flour because you can make it with your regular flour and baking powder.

Baking Powder

1 part baking soda
2 parts cream of tartar


Brown Sugar

1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon molasses

Self Rising Flour

1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Notice my bag clip on the baking soda? Its another one of those things I think should have multiple purposes.


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Take that step.

I set a goal for myself for the day after Labor Day. Thank goodness it wasnt a weight loss goal or I would be in tears right now! Lots of distractions have popped up along with my gift of procrastination.  I am talking a deep breath and a first step towards my goal today.

I know that I am not the only person with a goal or a dream out there. Whatever it is you have wanted to do just take a little step today to make it happen. A little step could be writing it down on paper, telling someone, asking someone for help or just a tiny start on that goal.

Think about all the things you have ever had to take a step of faith for. I think about marriage. When I got married I had all these crazy ideas what it would be like. It nothing like that. Throw in 3 kids. multiple animals and bills and it kind of sucked sometimes. I never thought it would actually suck. But we kept moving forward. Sometimes my husband had to drag me and sometimes I had to drag him. I am happy to say that just because things did not go according to my plan they did at least turn out better than I had thought. 

On a smaller scale I think about giving up paper towels. It was actually a little hard but we have all managed to survive. We have not used aluminum foil in a few months as well. I will have to post my creative ways to use pie pans as lids in the oven.

Whatever chapter you are writing in your story just do one thing today to get some words on that page. I want you to stand in front of the mirror, look at the face in the looking back and smile at it. You are an amazing person created to amazing things that only you can do. Oh others can do things like you and you like them but only you can do things like  you.

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug 

How average are you?

This morning I was reading an article that said the young women are wearing a new outfit an average of 7 times. The reason for this is because they do not want to be seen on social media wearing the same clothes over and over and over again. That lead me to do a little research into what the average money spent on clothes per year. They say to get your average multiply your yearly income by .05. It averages out to about $1700 a year for a family of 4.

So of course this led to another search of the average sized home, the average grocery budget and the average amount of clothes people had in 1830. It didnt take long for me to find out that I was way below average.

This crazy search all started with my daughter and I looking for a pair of jeans yesterday. I refuse to pay over $10 for a pair of jeans. I promise you my family is not running around pantless. I find lots of good clearance sales and since we always wear pants I buy discounted ones even if no one really needs them right this second.

If you pay over $10 for your jeans I do not think you are evil. Your money is your business. We spent around $400 trying to save the bees this year. We spent close to that amount on organic dirt and expanding our garden. Some people like pants other people like urban farming. I bet if I googled the average money people spent on saving the bees I would be way above average.

Did you know that back in the 1800's people had their one outfit they wore daily and their Sunday dress clothes and a other odds and ends that they could switch out? To get a new item of clothing was a big deal. You loved that item and you wanted it to last forever and you did everything in your power to keep it nice looking. Imagine on Sunday morning in your church sanctuary if everyone was wearing the same clothes week after week and that was the norm or when you had any  special gatherings. I remember reading in the Little House On The Prairie books that the girls always got excited when Ma wore a special dress or Pa got dressed up. The girls were over the moon when they got new ribbons to wear in their hair.

I am not going to lie this is actually an easy thing for me to talk about with little conviction. I really could care less about clothes. I own like 6 pairs of pants, 2 skirts, 5 every day t-shirts, 5 nicer shirts, 3 pairs of pjs, 4 sweaters and 2 coats. I only had 3 pairs of socks until I recently bought 6 new pairs. I prefer to go shoeless and sockless. This might seem crazy to you but it works for me. I wont judge your overflowing closet if you dont judge seeing me in the same outfit three times a week.  I also only have 6-7 pairs of shoes some of which are hand me downs from my shoe loving sister.

Before I buy an article of clothing I think about it. I usually walk away from it. Sometimes even wait a few days and go back. Sort of  in hopes they are gone or at least my size is. Sometimes I just hope that I can find it on clearance later.

Like I said if you like clothes, what you spend is your business but if you are always wishing you had more money  clothing is an area where  you can cut costs if you really want. Right now lots of summer things are clearanced. I will snag me 4-5 tshirst for a dollar or two and next spring I will turn my other ones into work shirts in the garden or I will cut them up and knit a rug or cleaning clothes.

This is one of my favorite nicer than a tshirt shirt. I paid $15 for it which is actually extravagant for me. I have  worn it at least twice a week for the past year. Thats like fourteen cents every time I wear it and I am still going strong.  I think from now on all my selfies will be in the car and I can guarantee that anyone who follows me on social media will see this shirt again.

Do you like my shiny lips? My homemade lip gloss is so easy. Get a roller ball tube and poke a hole in 3-4 vitamin e capsules and squeeze them into the bottle. Add a few drops of essential oils or even cooking oils like peppermint or lemon. Then fill with fractionized coconut oil. Use as often as you like. Your lips will thank you.

Forget what your mother said and talk to strangers.

First I would like to let my mother know that I do appreciate her teaching me important things like not talking to strangers. I just really needed a funny catchy headline to get peoples attention. I want to assure my mother that even though I plan on talking to strangers I promise not to eat my dessert first, run with scissors and to still look both ways before crossing the street.

We are taught to not talk to strangers. Thats actually not a terrible thing to teach your kids when they are young. Lets face it we live in a scary world. I sometimes wonder though if that "dont talk to stranger" mentality has carried over into our adult lives and we try to avoid strangers at all costs. Think about it. We can do all our shopping online without having to talk to anyone or we can go through a Uscan and not have to talk to a cashier. We can order our food online and pick it up with minimal conversation. Most of our appointments are now confirmed through text messages. I love all these things and think they make our life easier and faster but it can also isolate us if we let it.

Back in January a family member was in the hospital. I was sitting in a small waiting area waiting for my husband and son. A young man sat down and we said hello to one another. It was obvious he was not from Kentucky with his accent and being the nosy chatty person I am I asked where he was from. He was from New York. Which led to another question and another and another. I am surprised this very nice fellow didnt find some place else to sit. He mentioned having alpacas and that his wife spins yarn from their wool. I was so excited. I asked if she was on social media found out she had an Instagram. He called his wife to get her info for me and I looked her up as soon asi was back home.  I looked and still look forward to her Instagram posts and her husbands since I am now following his as well. I never asked the strangers name.

When we finally lost the last of our first chickens and I found myself with out eggs as I waited for a new batch of chicks to start laying I didnt want to buy eggs from the store I wanted to know the chickens who laid the eggs. I had seen pics of the strangers chickens but was not sure if they sold them. I sent her a message and she did and at an extremely reasonable price! We made plans to go to their farm and pick up the eggs. We got to meet the chickens, the alpacas and her rabbit who she spins wool from as well. We got to see their beautiful cabin on their beautiful land. The strangers are now acquaintances.

I plan on returning for a visit with permission of course. I am not a stalker.  I plan on ordering some things from her Etsy site for Christmas and I hope to meet up again and do some knitting. I look forward to the acquaintances becoming friends. You can find her shop if you go to Etsy.com and type fiberculture into the search.

The quote in the picture up top is one of my favorites. The more my husband I get into gardening and I get into herbs I see less and less plants a weeds. Its amazing the things they can help with. I harvested my first dandelion roots this year. They are a tincture that helps with upset stomachs.  While everyone else wishes to not see the pretty yellow flowers from the dadelions pop up on the yard we are excited about the jelly we can make with the flowers or how soaking them in olive oil infuses the oil and it can me made in to healing salves for dry skin. This quote can work just as well for strangers. " What is a stranger? A friend whose virtues have yet to be discovered".

Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Good intentions killed my plant!

Just like video killed the radio star my intentions killed this plant. A few weeks ago I was out weeding my peppermint and I clipped a few pieces to put in a jar with water just to see how long they would last. I am happy to report they WOULD have lasted quite a long time had I not let all the water evaporate out of the jar. It even started sprouting roots so I could have replanted and got a whole new plant. I put water in that thing twice a week for like three weeks then one day just totally forgot about it. It was sitting in my kitchen window right near the sink where i spend lots time with my hands in WATER washing dishes.  All is actually not lot though. I can use the now dried leaves as peppermint tea.

I had good intentions though. That counts for something doesnt it? I think about little projects I started or planned to start that got forgotten about. Dreams I had that were thrown to the wayside and sadly even friendships that sort of fizzle out because I kept intending to call them. With friendships we even sometimes justify it by saying "well its a two way street and they could have just as easily called me". They could but maybe life got just as busy for them as it got for you or maybe life got pretty stinky and your call could have been much used. Dont worry I am not writing to make anyone feel terrible. I have actually started 2 posts the past 2 days that slowly turned into crazy rants. Thats what happens when you decide to keep up with the world news.

I am here to hopefully give you hope and tell you to stop reading political news for a few days, your blood pressure will thank you. I want you to think about something you have intended to do but havent. If its because of time think how you can rearrage your schedule to make the time. Could it be something as simple as turning off the screen, thats tv or tablet? I wont lecture you about your facebook addiction as long as you dont mention my Pinterest one. Is money stopping you? Maybe you need to look at your budget or maybe you need to make a budget. Where can you save money to put towards your goal or dream or how can you make some extra money?  You have had your intention or you dream now its time to move on to your plan.

Think about relationships that you have and are there any people you wish to reach out to. People you may think about in the morning but then get busy and look at the clock at night and think its too late to call. I texted a friend last night at 10:30pm. I freaked when I realized the time. Shes actually someone I talk to often I just saw something on Pinterest and didnt want to forget to tell her about it.

I am reading a book right now that takes place right after WWII and its all written as letters to and from different people. It has really made me sad how the art of letter writing will be lost if not already. Reaching out to someone could be as simple as sending them a card that says "Been really busy but miss talking to you. Lets do tea." You dont have to do tea thats just one of my favorite things.


Water your intentions, help them grow roots into a plan or relationship and watch them take root to establish your goal garden. Can you tell I am a little excited about fall gardening?


Lots of Love

Mrs Ladybug

Busy Bees

I remember a few years ago I read an article about bees and then my hubby and I watched a documentary on colony collapse. I looked at him and he knew what I was thinking and he said " we are never getting bees". Oh by the way thats my husband in the bee suit.

Last year we had gotten bees and everything was fine with them until about February. On an unseasonably warm day we noticed that our bees were acting a little odd and when we opened the hive almost all were dead. There are lots of reasons why this would happen. A more experienced beekeeper told me that with the temps getting warm and cool every other day the ball the bees make to keep warm  may have broken up thinking spring had arrived only to have it get below freezing again and they died. Whatever the reason we were bummed.

We had already ordered some bees to start a second hive so we knew we would have at least one but decided to order package of bees, With a nuc of bees you get around 10,000 bees with four frames that usually already have the queen laying eggs in. In a package of bees you get 3-5 thousand bees with a new queen in a box that they have to eat a sugar cork to get to. These bees have been taken from a healthy hive and if the queen was just put in there with them would kill her. Because they cant get to her and they have lost their queen they are kind of angry at first but as they get use to her smell by the time they are able to get to her they love her like their old queen. Another difference between a nuc and a package besides price is where they are at in the building up for the next winter. The package bees are at least a month behind the nuc.

Here it is getting to be the end of summer and the bees have been busy collecting pollen and making honey. As my hubby was inspecting the smaller hive this morning he brought me a present, propolis. This is a wonderful thing. Its a natural antibiotic, its believed to help lower blood sugar, help with minor burns and even help with ear infections. I am not a doctor nor am I telling you to stop seeing your doctor if you are on medications.

The best news was with the 1 1/2 quarts of honey that we were able to get today, in a few weeks, there should be more in the bigger hive. I promise you that we leave plenty of honey for the bees. There are some large scare bee keepers who take all the honey and then feed their bees sugar water over the winter. I personally wonder if that is contributing to some colony collapse.  How would be handle having all our food taken away for the winter and only being able to drink sugar water?

So here is my sweetie turning the extractor and a picture of a little honey with the capping from the frame. We had to strain out all the wax and little bee parts. We set the frames with the wax outside near the hive and the bees cleaned it all right up.

Have a great Saturday. We are going to go stargazing tonight unless the hubby isnt feeling it. He actually got stung on the leg by one of the bees. Thank goodness he thinks the honey is worth the stings.

Changing the world one foot soak at a time.

If you like to read my blog for my neat little recipes then just scroll down past the picture of the jar with my foot soak recipe in it. I am feeling a little chatty today and am lightly touching on world events and religion. I just needed to give my two cents worth and well this is my blog.

I am pretty terrible at keeping up with current events, I dont watch the news, some days I dont even turn on the tv. I know nothing of politics. I sort of live in a bubble. Its not that I dont care about whats going on outside my world its actually everyone having an opinion on whats going on out there that I dont care to hear. I promise you this is about as political or worldly as I get in my posts. I have learned in my 47 years that I can not change people. I can only change how I react to them and I chose love. Even for those who are not very lovable, My motives for that are pretty self serving as well. Just because I chose to show kindness to someone not being kind to me doesnt make them stop what they are doing and start being nice as well. It can but thats not always how it happens. They walk away angry that they didnt get a fight and I walk away feeling sorry for them but not angry.

I am just a woman who wants to garden, raise chickens, keep bees, and leave my little square of land better than I found it. I want to make my own stuff and create things that make me smile and hope to inspire a few people along the way the way that others have inspired me.

As I have made the mistake this week of keeping up with a few current events I thought if I could change the world around me how would I start. What do I do when I need to relax and get my thoughts under control? I soak my feet. This actually reminded me of something in the Bible. In John 13:1-17 when Jesus washes his disciples feet. This is also something I dont really do in my blog is get religous on you. I am not ashamed of my faith or that I am a christian. I believe that if we are doing it right we dont have to let everyone know we are a christian. I would hope that it shows in our actions.  Back to the foot soaking. My evening foot soaks are something that winds me down. Its relaxing and calming. I wonder if anyone would join me if I set up a few chairs around a wash tub in my front yard and put a little sign up that said free foot soak. I wonder how long it would take for a few people to start stopping by regularly?  I could also go big. We have a big fountain in our downtown I could just make up a big batch of my foot soak, dump it in the fountain and ask passersby to join me there. After I am arrested and get out of jail I could just do it again the next day. Is it even possible to have heated conversation sitting across from someone while you share a foot soak?

Last night as I was sitting with my feet in the tub thinking about all the negative things I read online and wondering if this world is really as terrible as everyone seems to think I thought about a few encounters I have had this week with people.  One was with a pharmacy worker who commented on how similar our phone numbers were which made me ask her if she had a rental property in another county that I am constantly getting calls for. She said yes. One was with a cashier at the grocery that we somehow got on the subject of her husband traveling a lot and she had lots of sample size toiletries she didnt know what to do with and I gave her the name of an organization to donate them to. I had a nice little chat with a lady who gave me her shopping cart at Aldis when I couldnt find a quarter. I then in turn gave it to someone when I was finished. I got to see my sister who lives like 10 hours away and she gave me shoes which I needed because puppy keeps chewing up my sandals. Lots of terrible things happened in the world this week. That doesnt mean that its a terrible world. Lots of amazing things have happened this week in the world. We just dont get to read about them. Instead of posting and reposting the negative things that happen in the world what if we posted ways that we personally impacted our little bubble positively? Just a thought.

World Changing Foot Soak

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup epsom salt
5 drops of lavender
1 TBS spoon lavender buds (optional)

Mix and store in jar. Add a few tablespoons to your foot soak and enjoy.

Is that little crocheted basket adorable or what? My sister made that for me and filled it with chocolate. I think shes a keeper. We have a fun weekend planned. We are going to learn more about watching the stars, we are going to can some food and we get to see an eclipse on Monday. We are going to plant some peas, lettuce and other stuff.