OMG! Perfect herb dryer!!!!

I don't think I even need to tell you how to do this one...... frame's, screening, chains and hook and eyes..... and you got it!!!!!  Imagine this on your back porch!!!!  OHHHHHHHHHH  WANT!!!

Frosted Strawberrie Salad

Ingredients

• 2 packages (6 ounces each) strawberry gelatin
• 3 cups boiling water
• 2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed or Fresh
• 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, not drained
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries
• TOPPING:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• Fresh strawberries and mint

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in strawberries and pineapple. Refrigerate until partially set.
• Stir in pecans and cherries. Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. dish. Chill for 2 hours or until firm.
• For topping, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and marshmallow creme just until combined; fold in whipped topping. Spread over salad. Chill for several hours or overnight. Cut into squares. Garnish with strawberries and mint. Yield: 16-20 servings.

Indoor Water Gardens

Here's what you will need for your very own table-top water garden:

- A glass container, bowl, wide-mouth vase etc.

- Water plants such as taro, water lettuce, water hyacinth, duck weed, fairy moss etc.
- Plastic pots shorter than the height of your glass vessel

- Assorted rocks

- Potting soil

- Charcoal bits
- Mosquito fish (optional)
- Pure water

Place the plant in your plastic pot and add soil. Pack the soil down snugly and cover with rocks and pebbles. Rinse off any loose soil from the exterior of the plastic pot. 

 

Make sure your bowl/vase/container is clean and free of cracks. Take a handful of charcoal and line the base of the vessel to help against odors. 

 

Cover with aquarium pebbles. Fill the vessel with the most pure water you can get your hands on; rain water, or distilled. 

 

Place one of the potted plants into the vessel. Some loose soil may escape the pot- just scoop it off the top of the water, and add more rocks to the potted plant if needed. 

 

Pull off any dead roots from the floating water plants, and give them a good rinse before adding to the bowl.

 

If you plan on taking the water garden outside, and then bringing it back inside later, try adding some small fish. (a cute little goldfish would be perfect!) Nobody wants mosquitoes hatching in their living room!

66 Things You Can Grow In Containers

 

 

 

 

66 Things You Can Grow In Containers

Growing your own food is exciting, not only because you get to see things grow from nothing into ready-to-eat fruits and veggies, but you also don't have to worry about the pesticides they might contain, and you definitely cut down on the miles they -- and you -- have to travel.

As it turns out, with pretty minimal effort, anyone can be a gardener. My boyfriend and I are essentially first-timers this season and so far have the beginnings of strawberries peeking out, tomatoes are on their way, the basil's about ready for a big batch of pesto, and once the last frost hits, the peppers, kale, spinach, chard, and mesclun will be on their way, too. All on a tiiiny little terrace (with the help of a little DIY carpentry).

If you're up to the challenge -- and it really isn't much of one -- growing your own food can be so rewarding. And so much cheaper! Just be sure to choose the right planter or container, learn how to maintain it properly, and go find yourself some seeds (or starter plants)!

Here's a starter list of all the crazy things even urban gardeners, without space for a garden, can grow at home.

Tree Fruits - Including Apples

1. Apples can be grown in a container; you can also grow them on the balcony or other small space using a technique called espaliering.
2. Kumquats
3. Avocados (plenty of extra tips online if you search)
4. Blackberries
5. Blueberries (sometimes helpful videos are available online)
6. Pomegranate
7. Cherries
8. Figs
9. Pears

Citrus Fruits

Citrus trees in particular are said to be good for beginning gardeners and are easy to grow indoors, so don't let inexperience or lack of outdoor space stop you from enjoying fresh-picked, hyper-local fruit.
10. Dwarf oranges
11. Grapefruit
12. Tangerines
13. Meyer Lemons
14. Limes

Tropical Fruits

Tropical fruits can also be surprisingly easy to grow indoors, even in non-tropical climates. Such as...

15. Bananas (look for container gardening tips online)
16. Pineapple
17. Papaya
18.Gurvas (several varieties)

The Real Surprises

19. Hops -- yes, as in the “spice” ingredient in beer. Turns out they're easy to grow!
20. Aloe Vera
21. Strawberries
22. Tea (well, herbal tea)
23. Quinoa!

The Non-Surprises

24. Tomatoes
25. Summer Squash
26. Other Squashes, like Acorn and Pumpkin
27. Hot Peppers
28. Sweet Peppers
29. Cucumbers

Melons

30. Small Cantaloupe
31. Jenny Lind Melon (an heirloom cantaloupe)
32. Golden Midget Watermelon

Herbs

Just about any herb grows well indoors -- just be sure that if you're going to do any container-sharing, you do your research first about which herbs co-habitate well together. (Some will hog water, for example, and leave the others dried out.)

33. Basil
34. Oregano
35. Parsley
36. Rosemary
37. Chives
38. Catnip
39. Thyme
40. Sage
41. Parsley

Leafy Greens

42. Kale
43. Mesculun Greens
44. Spinach
45. Swiss Chard
46. Lettuces (plenty of options there, from micro-greens to head or loose-leaf)
47. Mustard greens
48. Collard greens
49. Arugula

Root Vegetables

50. Carrots
51. Beets
52. Potatoes

Other Healthy-sounding Stuff

53. Sprouts
54. More sprouts: mung bean and lentil sprouts
55. Wheatgrass
56. Kohlrabi
57. Turnips
58. Rutabagas
59. Celeriac
60. Parsnips
61. Jerusalem Artichoke
62. Sugar snap peas
63. Rhubarb (not ideal in a container, but it can work)
64. Mushrooms (again, more tips online if you look)
65. Pole Beans
66. Aaaand... asparagus, although some disagree that it does well in a container. Try it if you're ok with a risk!

Bonus

67. You can grow your own loofah, too, but you'd need a garden rather than a container for that.

Ten Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

Mistake 1: Growing from seed. When you first start out trying to grow fresh herbs, I recommend you begin by trying to grow from seedlings rather than planting your own seeds. These great little starter plants are widely available in grocery stores in the late spring. For the same price as a packet of fresh herbs from the produce section, you can buy your own little starter plant. Lots can go wrong in the seed to seedling transition (including not thinning out plants properly), so its probably best to begin by skipping that complicated task or you are in danger of washing out before you really begin.

Mistake 2: Starting with the wrong varieties. I recommend you start by trying to grow fresh basil. It is the perfect trainer herb. First, basil grows quickly, allowing you to observe the effects of your care more easily. Second, basil leaves wilt visibly when not watered enough, but recovers well if you water the wilted plant. This makes basil a great ‘canary in the mineshaft’ to help you figure out how much water is enough.


 Mistake 3: Watering herbs like houseplants. Instead, water herbs a moderate amount every day. While some houseplants flourish with one solid watering per week, most delicate herbs require moderate and regular watering. This is particularly true during hot summer months. If you have good drainage at the bottom of your pot (at least a drainage hole, possibly rocks beneath the soil), it will be difficult to water herbs too much.

 Mistake 4: Not cutting early and often. As a novice gardener, it may seem like your puny little plant just isn't ready for a trip to the barber, but then you will find yourself sitting there wishing for leaves without much success. Again, basil is a great herb to practice pruning. As with all herbs, you want to cut the herb just above a set of growing leaves. With basil, when you cut the plant that way, the originally trimmed stem will no longer grow. However, two new stems will grow around the original cutting, creating a “V” shape (see the photo above, can you spot the Vs?). If you don’t trim basil aggressively, it will continue to grow straight up, and become too tall and top-heavy. Making your first trim approximately 3-4” above the soil produces a nice sturdy plant. Of course you want to be sure you are always leaving a few good sturdy leaves on the plant (see below). As it continues to grow, continue to prune it approximately every 3-4" for a nice solid plant. I like to let it grow for some time and then cut back to within 2-3 inches of the original cut. After only a few early trial cuts, this usually makes for a nice clipping with plenty of basil to use for a pizza.

 Mistake 5: Taking the leaves from the wrong place. When you are just starting out it seems to make so much sense to pick off a few big leaves around the bottom of the plant, and let those tender little guys at the top keep growing. Wrong. Leave those large tough old guys at the bottom alone. They are the solar panels that power your herb's growth. Once your plant is big enough to sustain a decent harvest, keep on taking from the top, as you have been when you were pruning. That way you get all those tender new herbs that are so tasty, and your plant gets to keep its well developed solar power system in place. Plus, if you pluck from the base and leave the top intact, you get a tall skinny plant that will flop over from its own weight (and yes, I know this from experience). When you pluck from the top, instead of clipping off just below a pair of leaves, you want to clip off just above a pair of leaves. It is a bit counter-intuitive as a novice, but trust me it works. The place where the leaf joins the stem is where new growth will occur when your plant sends off new stems in a V.

Mistake 6: Letting your plants get too randy. If you are pruning regularly, this may never become an issue, but unless you are growing something for its edible flowers, be sure to cut back herbs before they start growing flowers. My friend once brought me to her backyard garden and pointed, frustrated, at her wimpy, small basil plants. "I just keep tending them, but they don't even produce enough leaves to put on a salad!" she lamented. I pointed to the glorious stalk of flowers at the top of each plant, "That's your problem" I explained. Because herbs are kind of like college boys: if you give them half a chance, they will focus all their energy on procreation and neglect growth. If you want leaves, keep cutting off the little flower buds whenever you find them (see photo above), and it will encourage your plant to focus on growing more leaves.


 Mistake 7: Using tired soil with no nutrients. Tired soil that has been sitting in your garden or lawn for ages often looks grey and a little depressing. Would you want to grow in that stuff? Give your plants a dose of the good stuff and they'll thank you for it. I grow my herbs in a combination of potting soil, used coffee grounds (with a near-neutral PH, available for free at Starbucks), and organic compost. If I have some on hand, I also throw in crushed egg shells. Those without access to compost (and no deep commitment to organic growing) may find Miracle grow useful. My momma swears by it for tomatoes. A diluted solution of Miracle grow occasionally can help many herbs flourish.

Mistake 8: Getting in a rut. There is an element to passion about herb gardening. In order to be good at it, you need to feel rewarded. So don't stick too long with one or two herbs just because they work. Branch out to a few other basic herbs that you will use regularly in your kitchen. There are few things more rewarding as an urban foodie than being able to pop out to the fire escape to clip fresh herbs to use in my cooking. Once you have become comfortable with basil, I recommend moving on to try growing oregano, mint, rosemary and thyme. All are regularly useful herbs in the kitchen, and all are relatively easy to grow. You will notice that rosemary cleaves after cutting in a somewhat similar way to basil, but grows much more slowly, so the effect is difficult to notice. Some plants also respond to clipping by throwing out more full leaves at their base. I have long wanted to grow cilantro but have not had much luck with it.
 Mistake 9: You mean there's more than one kind of mint?When choosing herbs, read the label carefully. For example, there are two main varieties of oregano: Mediterranean and Mexican. Mediterranean oregano is the more common variety, and what you likely own if you have conventional dried oregano in your cupboard. I have Mexican oregano growing on my back fire escape. I love Mexican oregano in spicy dishes, for making beans from scratch, and often use it in tomato dishes where I don't want the flavor to seem too much like marinara. Similarly, there are many different kinds of mint. You don't want to be thinking of the pungent spearmint plant and accidentally take home the much more subtle (and not mojito savvy) applemint by mistake.

Mistake 10: Feed me Seymour! If you are planting in soil instead of pots, take care that your cute little herb seedling doesn't become a giant plant that takes over your garden. A word of warning for oregano and mint: both can be voracious growers. If you are planting outside in a garden, rather than in pots, you may want to consider potting these herbs and then burying the pots in the ground. This will add a measure of control to the root systems of these herbs, which can otherwise take over a garden and strangle nearby neighbors. When in doubt, check out wikipedia, they usually are careful to point out which herbs are in danger of overwhelming your garden.

Banishment Spell

 Being stalked, bothered? Use this spell, but first get rid of everything the person may have given you, even Jewelery!  Then light two black candles and say:



"by basilisk and bloodstone
by the garlic in the fields
by the poppies and what they yield
invisibly I make my shield
to detect thee and deflect thee
By dragon's blood and salamanders
by horses when their hooves strike sparks
by the dragon breathing flames from the Book of Life
I erase thy names
I cut the cords and unlock the chains
I sever all the ties by which we were bound
and with impenetrable walls myself I surround
against thy power and its source
against thy evil and its source
Vesta, Pele, Lilith Kali Kali Kali
I banish thee forever from me
and any harm from thee to me
doubles back and tables turned
thou shalt by thyself be burned
Lilith, Vesta, Pele Kali Ma Kali Ma
by the power of three times three I banish thee,
I banish thee, I banish thee I am set free So mote it be! "

WD-40

DID YOU KNOW?
What IS The Main Ingredient of WD-40?
Before you read to the end, does anybody know what the main ingredient of WD-40?
No Cheating.....

WD-40 ~ Who knew!

I had a neighbor who bought a new pickup.
I got up very early one Sunday morning and saw that someone had spray painted red all around the sides of this beige truck (for some unknown reason).
I went over, woke him up, and told him the bad news.
He was very upset and was trying to figure out what to do....
probably nothing until Monday morning, since nothing was open.
Another neighbor came out and told him to get his WD-40 and clean it off.
It removed the unwanted paint beautifully and did not harm his paint job that was on the truck. I was impressed!

WD-40 who knew?
"Water Displacement #40".
The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and degreaser to protect missile parts.
WD-40 was created in 1953, by three technicians at the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company.
Its name comes from the project that was to find a 'Water Displacement' Compound.
They were finally successful for a formulation, with their fortieth attempt, thus WD-40.
The 'Convair Company' bought it in bulk to protect their atlas missile parts.
Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you.
When you read the 'shower door' part, try it.
It's the first thing that has ever cleaned that spotty shower door.
If yours is plastic, it works just as well as on glass.
It's a miracle!
Then try it on your stove top.
It's now shinier than it's ever been.
You'll be amazed.


WD-40 Uses:
1. Protects silver from tarnishing.
2. Removes road tar and grime from cars.
3. Cleans and lubricates guitar strings.
4. Gives floor that 'just-waxed' sheen without making them slippery.
5. Keeps the flies off of Cows, Horses, and other Farm Critters, as well. (Ya gotta love this one!!!)
6. Restores and cleans chalkboards.
7. Removes lipstick stains.
8. Loosens stubborn zippers.
9. Untangles jewelry chains.
10. Removes stains from stainless steel sinks.
11. Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill.
12. Keeps ceramic / terracotta garden pots from oxidizing.
13. Removes tomato stains from clothing.
14. Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots.
15. Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors.
16. Keeps scissors working smoothly.
17. Lubricates noisy door hinges on both home and vehicles doors.
18. It removes that nasty tar and scuff marks from the kitchen flooring.
It doesn't seem to harm the finish and you won't have to scrub nearly as hard to get them off.
Just remember to open some windows if you have a lot of marks.
19. Remove those nasty Bug guts that will eat away the finish on your car if not removed quickly!
20. Gives a children's playground gym slide a shine for a super fast slide.
21. Lubricates gearshift and mower deck lever for ease of handling on riding mowers...
22. Rids kids rocking chair and swings of squeaky noises.
23. Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open.
24. Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close.
25. Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards in vehicles, as well as vinyl bumpers.
26. Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles.
27. Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans.
28. Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons, and bicycles for easy handling.
29. Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly.
30. Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools.
31. Removes grease splatters from stove tops.
32. Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging.
33. Lubricates prosthetic limbs.
34. Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell).
35. Removes all traces of duct tape.
36. Folks even spray it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve arthritis pain.
37. Florida's favorite use is: 'cleans and removes love bugs from grills and bumpers.'
38. The favorite use in the state of New York, it protects the Statue of Liberty from the elements.
39. WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a little on live bait or lures and you will be catching the big one in no time. Also, it's a lot cheaper than the chemical attractants that are made for just that purpose.
Keep in mind though, using some chemical laced baits or lures for fishing are not allowed in some states.
40. Use it for fire ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately and stops the itch.
41. It is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray it on the marks and wipe with a clean rag.
42. Also, if you've discovered that your teenage daughter has washed and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the lipstick spots with WD-40 and rewash. Presto! The lipstick is gone!
43. If you spray it inside a wet distributor cap, it will displace the moisture, allowing the engine to start.

P.S.
As for that Basic, Main Ingredient.......
Well.... it's FISH OIL....
Who would have guessed ? ? ?

New Year, new give-a-way!!!!

Your going to LOVE THIS!!!!  Super heavy, pure Crystal Perfume bottle!!! 

Shines like a million diamonds... soooo pretty!!!!!!

To enter, you can do a few things.... the more things you do the more of a chance you have to win this beauty!!!

1. Leave comment here telling me if you like this give a way

2. Copy picture and give a way information on your blog

3. Post to your facebook account

Winner will be chosen at the end of the month!!!!!

Healing

 

 

 

 

A healing prayer -
 

Gentle lord and gentle lady I ask thy aid,   

My soul is bruised and my body aches, 

I open my heart as a temple to may healing energies flow, 

I am forever yours,Gentle spirits I ask thy aid,
I am not as strong as I could be,
Spirits of fire cleanse my body and soul,
Spirits of water ease my pains,
Spirits of earth lend thy strength
Spirits of air lift my soul,
My heart is your temple, 

I forever follow the path.

Magic angel food cake!!!

A box of Angel Food Cake mix (just the contents of the box, no need to follow the directions on the box), and combine it with a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple in its own juice. (No need to use a mixer, just stir it by hand)

When you do this, something magical happens. The mixture starts to froth and it turns into an amazingly airy, fluffy bowl of deliciousness right before your eyes.

 Once it's all mixed up, simply pour it into a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake it at 350 for 30 minutes