Kombucha Tea

I got a kombucha tea baby (SCOBY) from a freecycler locally. I had been interested in trying this fermented food and was excited to get the chance. People pay big bucks for this stuff at health food stores. It is easy to make at home!

Here is a detailed website with lots of information on the benefits and how to make it, so I will just leave you with the link.

I will add that we liked it fine. The kids really liked it and can't wait to have the next batch. I am off sugar, so only tried a small sip - I am pretty sure that most of the sugar is fermented out, but don't want to risk it. Tom said it was too vinegary, but I think I could fix it so that he would like it. I told the kids it was apple cider soda and they were quite excited. They don't get to drink soda, so the fizziness of this was pretty fun for them. :-)

It was interesting to watch it grow. The baby that I got was as round as a mason jar, it spreads to cover the surface of whatever you put it in - so I used a gallon jar and it grew to be the size of the jar! It is now on the 2nd batch creating it's own "baby" and will do so each batch... so if anyone would like one, just let me know by leaving a comment! I will get it to you. :-)

Frustrating!

I just realized that none of my links below are working... blogger keeps inserting their addy before the ones I enter. I'll fix them as soon as I am able, but in the meantime - use the sidebar where applicable, or when you click on the link - go to the addy bar and delete the www.blogger.com in front of the address. How frustrating!

Sick - again? still?

I am home from church this morning - the 3rd Sunday in a row. After dealing with the congestion, sinus pain, coughing, and then bronchitis - now I have strep! I feel fine, which is the wierd part. I am a little worn down and still have a bit of congestion and in the mornings my throat hurts - but otherwise I don't have all the usual strep symptoms - except when I look at my throat, which is really quite nasty. So... home again, this morning by myself so going to go soak in a very hot bath with some peppermint oil while listening to my audio Bible.

Yesterday, I managed to accomplish quite a bit. Tom took the two youngest with him on a trip past Roanoke to get a great deal on chain link fence ($50 for 300'+!) from craigslist. Heather and I stayed home and spent the morning grocery shopping - got some good deals! Then we came home and spent the rest of the day cleaning her room. Hooray! It was disaster zone. I threw out 2 huge black trash bags full of stuff, and put away some things for her to "earn" back. I culled down her clothes and toys tremendously. It feels great to have that done.

We've also been working on the gardens and are excited about our new puppy coming this week.
That's about it for now!

A productive day

Today, I am feeling almost 100% better. :-) I got lots more done. Cleaned up a bit, got the kitchen completely clean before bedtime tonight - hooray! Also made laundry soap, started a batch of kombucha tea, got all our chores done, played out in the snow flurries, got my shopping list and coupons together for tomorrow. I was very excited when I posted a few "wanted" ads on Craig's List and got responses from people willing to do some bartering... for fence material, a shed (will be a chicken house), and a bunny! So, a good day and now I am off to watch a movie with Tom and go to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.

Here are pics of the laundry soap. After setting 24 hours it thickened up and I am impressed with the consistency, I added some lavender so like the smell so far... the price is great! We'll see how it goes when we use it.

Update: I have used the laundry soap for several loads now, and I like it so far... I am still not completely sure, but don't have any complaints at the moment. The price breakdown: Arm & Hammer Wash Booster $3, Borax $3, bar of ivory soap (cheap, believe we got it free on a deal). We used only 1 cup of each and 1 bar of soap... so the boxes we bought will go a long way. It made a huge amount of detergent as you can see! I will update again if we decide we don't like it, but so far so good...

Updates

Been kinda quiet here, besides being sick our life has been school, gardening and bargain shopping. Check out the pages by clicking the links here or in the sidebar if you want to see more.

Valentine's Day

Gotta brag on my hubby. As you know the kids and I have been sick for what feels like forever - so this year was my year to totally forget about Valentine's Day. So when Tom brought home a boquet of tulips (my fav), a rose for each of the girls, and a car for Will - along with some very yummy steaks which he grilled for us - and NO chocolate, I was surprised to say the least! So very sweet of him, we had a great meal together and are enjoying the beauty of the flowers, and the lack of chocolate temptations. :-)

Sick, sick, sick...

We have been sick ever since returning home, almost 2 weeks. It is getting really, really old. It is a constantly morphing cold/cough/throat thing... uggh. Seems like we will start to get better and then another part of it hits, over and over. First was the sinus pain/headache and runny nose, then the sore throat, earache and congestion, now the chest pain and coughing. It is just wierd! Thankfully, we don't feel so bad we can't function (most of the time), but we do have to be home and try to get rest. Tom just called to say that he is getting it and will be coming home early today - bah! Just wanna feel better so we can keep up at home and move on with lfe.