Screen Free Week is Coming

This Monday will begin screen-free week. May 4th - 10th is this years screen free week. I actually first learned about screen free week a week or two after it ended in 2013. This national event used to be called "TV Turnoff Week" or "Digital Detox Week."

We are encouraged to turn off our screen media next week and screen media doesn't just mean television. It also refers to items that are much  more difficult for some of us to separate from like video games, computers, cell phone, and most difficult for me - my Kindle.

In show of support for this I won't be blogging during this time period and will come back the following Monday posting as usual.

For info and updates you can visit
The Screen Free Week Facebook page
The Screen Free Week Website
Campaign For A Commercial Free Childhood

Dryer Lint Fire Starters - Do They Really Work?

As any of my regular readers know I am absolutely not a fan of waste and like to try to avoid it as much as possible.

We had gotten a free fire pit from a neighbor that was moving and within the week of getting it, it was perfect bonfire weather. Better still, the neighborhood maintenance had come through our bachelorhood and done tons of tree trimming. Wanting desperately to make bio-char but having not moved yet I would have to settle for the usual byproduct of a bonfire, ash - which I would be saving to use for dust baths for our future chickens (and I did, but I ended up having to leave it with many other things at the old place).

First I found a few toilet paper rolls that had not yet found their way into the compost or recycling bins. Then I checked the dryer for dryer lint.
I sat the toilet paper rolls on end and lightly stuffed them. I made sure that the lint should be in contact with all sides of the roll but that it was not tightly packed (didn't want to make air flow too difficult.)

These really didn't seem to work any better than any other form of kindling. Will it work? yes. Is it any better than something else? I really don't think so.

HOWEVER!

Dryer lint IS extremely flammable and I found I was able to light it on fire with plenty of ease to begin fires in our fire pit.

Pintesting - Untangling Doll Hair

One of my daughters dolls had begun taking an increased beating with the arrival of her little brothers burgeoning toddler-hood. Both of them were getting food in her hair and the doll hair was of course getting tangled and matted.

I got everything that was going to be needed together.

The pin says to use 2 tbspns fabric softener. Already having my hands full with other things I just went with two "glugs" out of the fabric softener bottle and into my spray bottle that seemed the appropriate equivalent. Then i filled the rest of my bottle with water and shook it up to mix.

I believe my spray bottle is supposed to hold around 6 ounces.

I began by using a fine mist but by the end I was going pretty heavy handed with the spray. Just remember it's always easier to add to than to take away.

To de-tangle the dolly in questions tresses you should, like with your own hair, begin at the tips and work up to the roots to avoid fairy knots. The entire process took me around 5 - 10 minutes which is about as long as it can sometimes take to do this same thing with my daughter.

The results were worth the effort though :)

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

It's been a little while since my last post (which despite multiple tries I never go to come out looking pretty.) My husband and I have been looking for a homestead to call our own and in December we found one. Getting it was no easy task but in March we finally closed on it and moved in the next day.

I stopped blogging as frequently when my laptop crashed a couple of years ago. The chance at having a new one or a new sewing machine (since that along with many other things broke) came along and I ended up choosing the sewing machine.

During this long interim I've still been trying things, taking pictures, and trying to put blogs together whenever I felt I had the chance so that hopefully I would find my way back to you.

I'm going to be doing what I can to get more blogs out to all of you who have been patiently waiting - and anyone new to this page or to my Facebook fanpage.