A little bit of Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my family over the weekend since my little brother lives out of town. Everyone was together at the folks place and it was fun! There was snuggling with the littlest niece and rough-housing with the middle nephews and teasing with the older ones. We had a wonderful time as a family.

My mom and dad gave me the coolest book! I am only 117 pages into it, but it's certainly a keeper and one I will use for reference for many, many years to come! It's called Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck; you can see it here.

One of the things that bugs me about cleaning is how many toxic chemicals we introduce into our home to get it clean. I *know* there has to be a better way to clean that doesn't use petro-chemicals or other toxins. This book has some fabulous resources! One that I just finished reading about is the "Domestic Spray Program". Using one opaque spray bottle for hydrogen peroxide (it breaks down in the light so you need a dark bottle) and another spray bottle for distilled white vinegar you have a 2 part disinfectant that does not require rinsing and that bacteria cannot build up a resistance to (thereby creating super-bugs like the antibacterial products do). First, spray vinegar on your counter tops, then follow with spray of the hydrogen peroxide. It's that easy. You can also use it on produce and things like meat juice that have spilled onto the refrig shelves and stuff in the refrigerator. NOTE*** DO NOT USE THIS ON GRANITE, MARBLE, LIMESTONE or other calcium based stone surfaces. The vinegar will pit the stone and dissolve it! Only use plain soapy water to clean those surfaces.

I have to get out and pick up some spray bottles now! This is going to be a fabulous all surface cleaner for our kitchen! If you are interested in more details about this 2-spray cleaner let me know!