My Week on Wednesday… July 23

 

Hello and welcome to another My Week on Wednesday where I take a few moments to share what I’ve been doing over the week. I share some of the blogs I’ve visited, and some of the things that I have learned.

This week we took a little mini vacation to Stony Brook State Park, a place I highly recommend visiting if you ever get the chance. We went creek walking and the kids tried to catch minnows. There are some beautiful waterfalls, a couple of gorgeous stone bridges, and even a pool (with lifeguards) fed by the creek–which is kind of neat… if a pretty chilly place to swim.

There is also a really excellent playground with a ton of really excellent climbing, balancing, and spinning things to play on.

 

We had a great time! 🙂

So what else?

Now, I don’t want to go upsetting anyone and talking about back-to-school prematurely… BUT I did get the kids’ school supply lists, and they each contain things like antibacterial hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.

Yuck. I hate the commercial stuff… filled with toxic chemicals, including triclosan and  “fragrance”, which could be made up of any number of undisclosed chemicals and known to contribute to allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress and which may effect the reproductive system. Antibacterial-anything is just plain bad for you… and may be contributing to “superbugs” … you know, those antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Not the sort of thing I want to keep around the house for safety, and for moral reasons.

I found a great recipe for Herbal Antibiotic Wipes from Joybilee Farm, which uses essential oils to keep the nasties at bay. I also found a recipe for Homemade Hand Sanitizer with Essential Oils from The Prairie Homestead. Kids do put their paws in some pretty gross stuff sometimes… and I’m not strictly against the occasional use of sanitizer… though I am against its overuse, and I am absolutely against the use of the scary commercial stuff!

Now, if only I can get the kids’ teachers to use this stuff instead… I’ll even make it if I have to…

By the way, did you know that you can do all your back to school shopping at Amazon? (Yeah, that was totally an affiliate link, and a shameless plug besides. 😉 )

 

And this happened. Pickles are not supposed to be furry or fuzzy or smell like dead things. I know what went wrong… my pickles escaped the brine and began to mold. Exactly how or why, I am less sure of… but what is really upsetting me at the moment is that I will now have to wait another 3 – 7 days for pickles.

**pout**

If you want to make your own pickles here is a great recipe/tutorial for making pickles from Primally Inspired. I also highly recommend the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz. Lacto-fermented pickles are easy–honest–and extremely good for you. Although sometimes pickles do escape their brine and then… colorful things happen.

**sniffle-I really wanted those pickles–sniffle**

It might, actually, have sort of been a week of fails, now that I think about it.

And I have to say…  Jill from The Prairie Homestead had my back this week — literally — with her Spray for Sunburn Relief. Remember how I teased my husband about getting a sunburn last week… I should’t have done that… ’cause now I might be a little bit crispy around the edges myself.

Normally we leave the beach before the sun gets too high… but yesterday we met friends and stayed all day and had a great time! And I learned a couple of neat things:

• Coconut oil makes an excellent sunscreen. But it only works where you put it… and I missed a few spots.

• Paddle ball is all sorts of fun. (Honestly, I’d never played before!)

• My new bikini is exactly 1 1/2 shorter (I can see the line clearly; no I’m not going to photograph it to show you) than my old one… or any bathing suit I have worn in the last decade. In all fairness, the last time that bit of skin saw daylight I may have been 18 months old and toddling down a beach naked. 😉

•  This Spray for Sunburn Relief works fabulously. All my pink bits (except for the aforementioned stripe) have faded into this lovely sun-kissed glow. As for the stripe… well, at least it’s not on a part where I sit… And the spray does help.

Here are nine more natural remedies for sunburn from Musings of a Modern Hippie, which it is my most sincere hope to not have a chance to try out in the future. And this really excellent post which explains why I didn’t put any Toxic Chemical Sunscreen on in the first place, but doesn’t explain why I didn’t follow one of her excellent suggestions and make my own sunscreen, or at the very least apply coconut oil to my… well, you know… 😉

Some other great articles:

• Drying Fresh Parsley — parsley is one of the few things that is growing well in my garden this year; I wouldn’t want to waste any of it!

• Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Cookies — don’t these sound yummy?

• Learn How to do a Handstand — just because.

• How to use PEE in your Garden — yes, I just said that… and, yes, I mean it. This article cracked me up from beginning to end, so I suggest you go read it. (You might want to pee first.)

• Five Ways to Preserve Sweet Cherries — because cherry season doesn’t last long enough. It just doesn’t.

Now for the Quote of the Week. Approximately daily, I post quotes on my Facebook Page. The quote with the most likes, shares, and comments will become the Quote of the Week.

Thank you for joining me for My Week on Wednesdays. Tell me, what did you do this week? I’d love to hear!

Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to come visit me on Facebook and follow me on Pintrest! And don’t forget to join me tomorrow for Thousand Words Thursday! And, on Friday, link up with the From the Farm Blog Hop!

So, what did you do this week? Please tell me; I love to hear!

If you liked this post, please share it! 🙂

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