DIY 101 – Working With Water
Water. Agua. Eau.
It is the great giver of life, the washer of dirt, the slow and steady drip of time. Without water, life on this planet would not exist.
Unfortunately, with water, life in your homemade creations may exist where you don’t want it to. Whether you’re DIYing your own beauty concoctions or edibles, there’s one important thing you need to be aware of when you use the effervescent aqueous essence.
Early in my crunchy DIY escapades, I learned a valuable lesson: Anything that contains water can potentially spoil, mold, or grow bacteria. I learned this by putting fresh mint into oil and keeping that oil on a counter top.
Within a week, the oil had turned rancid, the mint was muddy brown, and the whole thing stank to high heaven.
This is DIY 101 about water for several reasons: There has been a rash of comments on older posts with recipes that you’re supposed to keep in the fridge saying things like, “Heya! Can I just keep this in the bathroom? I’ll probably use it in two or three weeks.” (No, by the way, you cannot. Unless you like your beauty moldy.)
Also, I keep noticing recipes on Pinterest that combine water with things like oil (to make a cooking spray) or hand soap (to make a foaming soap substitute), and typically there’s no mention of what needs to be done to keep these things from going bad.
Chia Lookin’ Swell, Baby
(First of all, you laughed at the title. I know you did. Because you totally got that it was a play on “Gee, you’re looking swell.” Because chia seeds swell. Get it? GET IT?)
I’m claiming hipster status with chia seeds. Why? Because I tried them first about 5 years ago, before they were cool. Suck on that, 30-second mention of chia seeds on The Chew last week.
But, the truth is, I only tried them once, and they freaked me out. No one told me what to expect; the clerk at the local natural foods store just stuffed a small bag in my hand and said, “here,” after I asked if there was something I could add to my granola to make it healthier.
So I took them home, put a spoonful in my granola with almond milk, and about 3 minutes later started gagging, because I couldn’t stop thinking about eating tiny fairy eyes. That is what they felt and looked like. Tiny sad, disembodied fairy eyes.
Tuesdays Outside the Box: Flour and Seasonal Allergies
I hope you all put your thinking caps on throughout the week to come up with outside the box ideas for ways to use flour or help alleviate seasonal allergies. But! If, for some reason, you couldn’t think of any crazy new ideas for either of these things, please share your favorite traditional ideas for either of them.
Because what’s inside-the-box and normal for one person may be completely fresh, new, and unheard of for another.
At the end of this post, there’s a sign-up form to participate in sharing any blog posts that you’ve written about these two topics, but if you don’t have a blog, PLEASE share your ideas in the comments section. And remember, you can also upload photos to the comments, too, making Crunchy Betty your very own blog.
I’m going to share a couple of fun ideas with flour (one with regular flour and one with rice flour) and then one REALLY simple idea for alleviating seasonal allergies.
However, the star of this production is YOU! It’s your ideas and creative thinking we’re all waiting to learn about. So do. not. be. shy. Share your hearts out.
Lemon Brilliance: Use It Three New Ways
However, three of the top comments were energizing enough to get me off my butt and immersed in lemon. I had to try them immediately. And they are worthy! So worthy of praise and a dedicated blog post.
But before I get to the three we’ll highlight here, let’s look at a few more fantastic ideas (and by no means are these the only good ideas, so if you missed out on the lemon ideas last time, revisit them!).
Chandra said told us that her dog hates lemons (I wonder if that’s a typical thing?), so she rubs them on the edge of her trash can to keep the dog from poking around. Brilliant outside-the-box thinking!
Kristina infuses her vinegar with lemon peels for extra boosted cleaning solution.
Cadelle uses lemon to relieve heartburn (it works just like vinegar, only it’s tastier)!
Mjerrie and a few other people suggested using lemon as a natural deodorant. Just make sure to wait a bit after shaving until you apply it. Owwie!
And, way back in Crunchy Betty’s infancy, we talked about 19 Handy Things to Do With a Little Leftover Lemon (which I completely forgot existed until today). Imagine that.
Now for the good stuff. Three brilliant ways to use lemon, brought to you by … you!
Tuesdays Outside the Box in April!
What can you do with a wooden spoon?
Quick. Think about it. You can stir things, right? Like soup. Or pudding. Or pudding soup.
But if you took a little more time, you crafty people could think of a million things to do with a wooden spoon. Maybe whack a sarcastic spouse playfully on the derriere? Attach it to the wall with a screw and use it as a towel holder? Hang a bunch from the ceiling as a rustic chandelier? Or just chop it into pieces and use it as kindling.
You’ve already come up with eight better ideas than I have, I’m sure of it.
My mother, a former gifted teacher, used to play this game with her kids all the time. She’d give them an object of some sort and then 10 minutes to list all the crazy, unique, or possibly useful things they could do with it. It helped them become problem solvers; it encouraged them to think outside the box.
It also may or may not have resulted in detention for inappropriate use of cafeteria applesauce.
With all this in mind, I’d like to share with you a little something we’re going to do on Tuesdays in April. I’m calling it: Tuesdays Outside the Box.
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Crunchy Shopping!
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