Remember These Lovelies...

I wrote about finding some treasures that had been thrown out after my friend's neighbor passed away.  The beautiful, vintage, hand-crocheted bedspread sold for $89.99 BIN and the vintage wood, 1200 or so piece puzzle went for $72.00 final bid.  I don't make a habit of digging through the trash, but when I see valuable items left by the road I am not too proud to stop and check them out. Pays to check out the cast offs sometimes. :)

Joining Thrift Share Monday here:  http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/apron_thrift_girl/ 
and Flea Market Finds here:  http://herlibraryadventures.blogspot.com/2012/06/flea-market-finds_24.html

A New Vacuum...

I have been entertaining the idea of a new vacuum for a couple of years.  Already have a Kirby that we bought 19 or so years ago, but we removed all carpets from our home and replaced with laminate.  Dragging that Kirby around these hard floors is quite a chore... so the floors don't get cleaned nearly often enough.  Well, that's not the only reason they don't get cleaned real often... there are some many more fun things to do. :)

Took my sewing machine in to be serviced and had them show me what they had in the way of canister vacuums (supposedly the best for laminate floors).  So, I came home with this little baby...

It is so small and light, has metal telescoping wands, a retractable cord, adjustable suction strength and five attachments.  Just vacuumed my floors and it was so easy to pull around and the suction is great.  It sells for $200.00 or less ($154.99 on Amazon now). Think cleaning floors just got a lot less painful.

Homemade Insect Repellent

Second son is lifeguarding again this summer at some local springs.  The deer flies love to munch on him and the other humans, so I decided to make some homemade insect repellent.  After searching online I found some recipes that, of course, I tweaked a bit and came up with a spray I liked.  Here are the sites:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/healthbeautyprojects/a/naturalinsectrepellent.htm   and
http://wellnessmama.com/2565/homemade-natural-bug-spray-recipes-that-work/#
I used half jojoba oil and half lavender witch hazel (with no alcohol) as my base and added drops of citronella, lemongrass and tea tree oils.  It smells wonderful and my son says it works well.  Made a second bottle for my husband, as mosquitoes seem to seek him out in a crowd.  I found an amber 2 ounce spray bottle for dispensing at my local health food store.

Homemade Lip Balm

Have been wanting to make some of this for awhile now.  Already purchased a dozen new, empty tubes on Ebay.  Today I found a very quick and simple recipe for homemade lip balm so decided to try it.  I did tweak it a little and have to say I love the outcome.  Here's the recipe...
UPDATE:  Have been using the lip balm for several days and my chronically chapped lips are about healed. :)

Homemade Lip balm

1/3 cup of canola oil (I used mostly sweet almond, little Jojoba and a few droppers of Argan to equal 1/3 C)
1/8 cup of beeswax pellets (or grated beeswax) I used organic cosmetic grade beeswax.

Peppermint or other essential oil for scent

Mix base oil(s) and beeswax. Microwave until the beeswax melts. I did this at 30 second intervals and it took about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Stir in essential oils for fragrance.

Pour into lip balm tubes or tubs and let harden (I used a small funnel).  Makes a great lip balm!  This recipe made more than 12 tubes worth.

Found the recipe and photo here:  http://www.homemademamas.net/

Vintage, Household and More Yard Sale.... this Friday, 6/9

 A shout out to my local readers.... my dear friend, Hazel, and I will be having a yard sale this Friday, 6/9, from 8AM till ? and possibly Saturday as well.  There will be many vintage items, collectibles, household items, dvds, video games, Stanley brand solid wood twin/bunk beds and much more.  If you are in the market for any of these or just want to say Hi... stop on by.  We would love to see you! :)