Bomb

The title accurately describes how my house has looked the last week as I have been getting ready for VCB's first show of the season.  Making product, packaging and packing up have left many normal things undone.
We've got some great new products and can't wait to show them off.  Our first change is our solid lotion.  We use to mold it into a heart shape the biggest problem with that was as you used up the product it would start to crumble and be very messy.  We found tubes that twist up that are perfect, problem solved.  The next new product is our salt soak and scrub.  As the name says it makes a great scrub, but is even better for soaking your tired aching body.  Another product is an update of our goats milk soap.  We've added more nourishing oils, herbs and flower petals and repackaged them.  We named them after our friends and family according to how their personality matched the new bars. We also have reformulated our face scrubs and toner to be better than ever.

fall is coming

I love fall, it is my very favorite time of the year.  What I don't like is the thought of the long cold winter that follows.  We have had no rain here for weeks and the garden is starting to show signs of fall and stress.  Even as the flowers fade and dry up it is still beautiful.  I need to get out and start harvesting the herbs, grasses and flowers to dry.

my favorite new sandwich

Lunch for me is usually whatever I can grab and eat while I'm in the middle of my latest project.  I came up with this on a day when there were no left overs or frozen meals.  Now It is my go to sandwich a few times per week.
1 slice whole grain bread
1/2T low sugar peanut butter
1/2T Nutella
That's it just spread the peanut butter and Nutella on half the bread each, fold in half and munch.  With a low fat Greek yogurt  it makes a pretty complete lunch that will fill you up and keep you going through the afternoon.  Total calories about 300-350 depending on how heavy handed you are with the fillings.  You can always add a piece of fruit as a snack latter.

Sorry no picture, but if you don't know how to put together a simple sandwich, you need more help than I can give you.

vcb

Kathy and I will be part of the featured artists and crafts people at the Taste of the Prairie on Saturday, August 24th from 7:00am-7:00pm.  The event is at the convention center just outside Arcola, Il.  Come to eat and check out all our new products.  Mention this blog post and we'll give you some great samples of our products.  This is just an example of one of our unique gift baskets we can customize for you.

This is our first show of the year and we can't wait to see our customers and show off some of our new products.

living a frugal life

Recently I had someone say to me "I just don't understand how anyone can live on $50,000 a year."  Now this person has a gorgeous McMansion, two fancy new cars and all the latest toys. They work hard for what they have and I don't begrudge them one cent, but of course they couldn't live on $50,00!!  Since the average family income is $51,000 per year in America and a fraction of that in most of the world millions of  people do live at that income level.  The same week someone else made a comment about my new car.  It's in great shape, low mileage and five years old..  It replaced  a twelve year old car with 200000 miles on it,  Chances are high that it will be driven until it has at least that many miles or more before I get a different one.
Both comments got me thinking about how AH and I have lived frugally and well under the $50,000 mark over the past 40+ years.  I have had many comments over the years of our 'rich' life style.  I thought I would share some of our frugal living tips.

1 Live below your means as much as possible  sometimes just paying the bills and feeding everyone are all you can do, been there done that, but do the best you can
2 Fix up, use up, recycle  Almost nothing in our home is new but most of it is really nice
3 If you don't have the skills, learn.  Ask a neighbor, friend or family member to teach you how to do projects and simple repairs.
4 Use credit sparingly a mortgage, a car  cash for everything else except an emergency.
5 Save for what you want
6 Forget what others may think of you.  If they are bothered by what you have, drive or wear that's their problem not yours.
Give back to others.  No matter how bad things look for you, someone else is in much more need.
7 Learn to cook and eat at home.  One of my sons complained about spending over $600 in a month on meals out.  The average family spends at least $300 per month eating out, most of that is fast food.  What could you do with all that extra money if you only ate out once a week and skipped the trips through the drive thru?
8 Trade with neighbors, family and friends.  Whether it's skills, tools, child care or anything else someone you know probably has what you need.
9 Learn the difference between want and need.  We've had many conversations on this subject at our house.  I want what I want when I want it!!!  Most of the time I just am not willing to go into debt to have it.  Usually if you wait one week before buying something  you'll decide it isn't really necessary.
10 Always have your own money if possible.  If I want a rummage treasure or book I pay for it with my own money without having to explain it to AH.  He has the same privileged.  We do ours mostly in cash for the month and when it's gone no more spending.
11 Cheap is not always the best way to go.  Yeah I'm cheap.  I rarely buy things that are not on sale.  What I do look for is quality.  Yes I do have a lot of quantity on some things but I got those things real cheap.

I can see the people who know me well and are sure I could shop for a career laughing at this post.  No I don't like following the ideas all the time and we both mess up occasionally but when we live almost debt free, can pay cash for our next trip, travel  like we do, live like we do, it does make the little sacrifices unimportant.  We have never gone without something we needed for very long.  Most of what we want comes along eventually or those wants change over time.  Now we need to start saving for that trip to Italy we want to take.

corn fritters

Because I rarely fry anything I had never made corn fritters.  I saw them on TV and they looked tasty so I gave it a shot.
You will need:

2C corn fresh off the cob or frozen
1 egg
1/2 flour maybe a little more
2-3T milk
Salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

mix everything together and refrigerate at least 1 hour  the mix should be loose but not runny
Heat a skillet and add just enough oil to cover the bottom about 1/4"  Drop the corn mix by tablespoon into the oil, fry, flipping over when the bottom is golden and crisp.
Drain on paper towel  season
Serve with sour cream, salsa or apple sauce.  We liked ours plain..

vcb

Rose water part two

I told you the first batch of homemade rose water molded while we were gone.  Yuck!  But I'm not one for giving up so I tried again with a couple of changes.  I did not wash the petal, it had rained the night before and we do not use sprays on our garden.  I brought 3 quarts of distilled water to a boil, turned off the heat and added 3-4 qts of rose petals.  I covered the pot and left it about 2 hours until the color was gone from the petals.  I strained the liquid 3 times to remove the solids the last time with a coffee filter.  After the water cooled I added 1C of glycerin and 1/2C vodka.  It didn't have much smell so I added a few drops of rose oil to the mix.  It's a beautiful soft rosy pink.  I'm hoping this works because many great beauty recipes call for rose water and it is stinkin expensive.

I mixed a small jar with half water half witch hazel and have been using it twice a day for 2 weeks now and my skin has never felt softer or smoother.  

dragon fly

I had seen this gigantic dragon fly on Pinterest and knew I had to have at least one or two.  They were easy to make once I had all the materials together.

4 fan blades
1 table leg
1 wood ball
1 wood finial
assorted metal and wood pieces for details
paint
clear spray sealer

I did all the painting first and then assembled everything together.  The antenna is a lamp harp and the eyes are washers and nuts.  Just screw or glue everything, spray with sealer and add a hanger to the back. I would not hang this directly outside but should be fine in a protected area..  I'm hanging this on a window under an overhang on our sun room wall that faces our drive.

white dragon fly
1 table leg
brass screen wire
finial and wood ball
metal and wood pieces
paint and spray sealer

I had found the brass screen wire at a thrift shop and loved how it looked.  It made the wings a little small. but I really like how she turned out. This is nasty stuff to work with.  The edges are sharp!  Wear gloves and fold the rough edges over about 1/8" and press down firmly.  Assemble as above.

chillin time

We had the opportunity to spend time with three of our grand kids last week. It always amazes me how exhausting, smart and funny they are.  Little kids can teach you a lot if you just listen. We did take a short field trip to the river front of historic Washington, Mo and did a little thrifting but mostly we just played and hung out by the pool enjoying the sunshine and the end of summer vacation.  School starts this week YIKES!!!
Here's a sight you won't see very often, my hubby as a bathing beauty, lily white skin and all.
Everyone needs a break from the day to day routine, even if it is a someone elses house.

rose water

This is still in the experimental stages but so far it seems to be working.
Rose water has been used in cosmetics for centuries.  It was probably the first luxury product women began to use, especially in the middle east.  It can also be used in cooking, but I haven't gotten that far yet.  It is an antioxidant, can be used on all skin types, will fight both acne and dry skin and in the middle of the summer it is a refreshing toner.

You will need  fresh untreated with chemicals rose petals pulled off the stems.  Rinse the petals and place in a large pot.  Cover with distilled water just to cover and simmer on low until the petals loose their color, about an hour. Strain and bottle. I boiled my first batch hard at first and it turned into an ugly brown color.  If you have just a small amount keep it in the refrigerator.  If you made a large batch add 1 tsp of Vitamin E per cup to preserve it.  You can add a couple of drops of rose oil if you want it to smell rosier.  Some one asked me, and yes you must use distilled water in any cosmetic product that will last more than a few days.  Municipal water systems are full of chemicals and contaminates that will make the product spoil in a few days, doesn't that make you feel good about drinking water from the tap?
Recipes are all over the internet but I like just saturating a cotton pad with the water and rubbing it all over my face.  You can also mix it half and half with witch hazel for a toner for normal to oily skin.  For really dry skin I would mix it with a little distilled water and add some jojoba, apricot or palm oil.
I'll let you know how the experiment progresses, but so far so good.

PRODUCT UPDATE:
After ten days of sitting refrigerated the water had mold in itYUCK.  For now just make a small batch and keep it in the frig.  As soon as I can find a better preservative I'll update the post.

Home made goo gone

I'm always trying to get sticky tags and labels off of the things I buy.  When I came across this recipe for Goo Gone, which runs about $4.00 per bottle, I just had to try it.
1C baking soda
1/4C coconut oil  you may need to add a little more if it seems too stiff
Mix together into a smooth paste.  Rub onto your sticky stuff and let sit for at least 10 minutes.  Wash off using a couple of drops of dish soap, you may need to use a scrubbie pad, rinse well.
I stored mine in a clean deli container under the sink.  It even worked on some dried up art brushes that were rock hard and ready to be tossed, I let those sit over night.

Around town

I love the little town I live in.  AH was born and raised here and we've lived here all but 2 of our 42 years of marriage.  Yes there are disadvantages to living in a rural area, but the good far outweighs the bad.
On a walk with my grand daughter last week we snapped just a few  shots of the differences in the houses just around the block we live on.  It makes things so much more interesting to not have to look at the same boring beige, greige, taupe and tan houses developers seem to use today.  I'm glad I don't live in a cookie cutter house.
Open your eyes to the beauty and differences around you.

BIG MESS

This post could also be called "the danger of being a guinea pig".  As owners of Vintage Cottage Beauty, Kathy and I are always on the lookout for new ingredients and methods that might lead to new products.  I came across a blog post recently touting the greatness of coconut oil.  This is good stuff and great in many different ways.  What it is not, is a good hair masque.  I rubbed pure coconut oil into my hair on just the ends, wrapped it in a damp towel for 30 minutes and washed my hair, tree time in the shower.  It was still a greasy, stringy mess.  It was late so I went to bed only to find an oil slick on my pillow case the next morning.  I washed my hair again with regular shampoo, still greasy.  Washed again with Dawn and more shampoo.  At that point it was starting to look better.  Maybe after another wash today it will be back to normal.
There will be NO coconut hair masque as a new product for VCB.  We are always our own first guinea pigs, then we move on to friends and family, tweaking our recipes along the way.  Only after weeks or months of this kind of testing do we finally bring out a new  product.  And you all thought the beauty business was easy and we were just mixing up simple lotions and potions in our kitchen

You can buy coconut oil in any grocery store, usually by the shortening and oils or  in the baking aisle