Hairballs on the Carpet of Life

Monday, March 16, 2009

Frugal Cleaning "Recipes"

This week may be a little crazy for me so I'm going to spend some time getting posts ready today and have them set them up so that Blogger publishes them at a later date.

I know that cleaning, much less frugal cleaning is not the most exciting of subjects. If you have been following 50sgal's blog, then you've read some of her posts about her efforts to use as many frugal and "green"cleaning products as possible that were available in 1955. She's encouraging her readers to follow her lead on this, so this is a short post about what I'm doing at home right now.

Top left bottle contains my window cleaner. I substituted some liquid dishwashing liquid for the castile soap as I didn't have any liquid castile soap on hand. The shaker jar contains my baking soda blend that I use in the kitchen and bath for scouring and sprinkling on my carpet before vacuuming to make it smell nice.

The tub with the blue top on the left contains my homemade cleaning wipes. ( Yes, using paper towels for cleaning is not the best option in terms of frugality. I only use these for cleaning up really greasy or gross stuff, so a tub of these lasts me quite a while!) The tub with the blue top on the right is for homemade furniture polish wipes. 50sgal told us about a "recipe" in one of her old books that suggested mixing lemon oil and water 50/50, dipping cheesecloth into this mixture, wringing them out until just damp and storing these in an tightly lidded container. Use as you would the disposable wipes but, you wash and reuse the cheesecloth as it gets dirty. Edited to add: I wouldn't make up more of the furniture wipes than you can use in a couple of weeks. The cleaning wipes are alcohol based so they have a much longer shelf-life.

I decided instead of cheesecloth, I would use some white microfiber cloths instead since I can take the best of today and blend it with the best of days past! I just used one of these cloths today and haven't tried washing any yet. I bet that there may be some lemon oil residue left after washing so I've dedicated specific cloths just for this purpose. My regular microfiber cleaning cloths are blue so it will be easy to tell which cloths are which.

The top right bottle contains my all purpose and floor cleaning mixture.
The back of the bottle of pine oil cleaner had the recipe. My bottle said to mix 1/4 cup with a gallon of water for an all purpose and floor cleaning mixture, so I cut this down to 1/2 Tablespoon and 2 cups water to fit my bottle.

There's also some tips on the back about other uses for this product as well such as for greasy laundry items. I paid $1.00 for this 28 ounce bottle and if I only used it for my all purpose cleaner, it should last me quite a while!

Do you have a favorite frugal or "green" (or hopefully both!) "recipe" you'd like to share with me??

Friday, March 13, 2009

Flashback Friday!

Sorry about the ads that play before the NBC clips.

I apologize for the length of these two clips. If you just want to see "the dress in the window" scene, go down to part II. The scene starts at about 3:20.

Part II

Have a good weekend everyone!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Tablescapin' 101

Blogger Lidian of Kitchen Retro, wrote the following comment about my last post:

"So how about a business making unfrosted cake layers? And maybe seasoning packets, too. But could you make a tablescape out of the layers and the packets?"

I could never keep a straight face selling the unfrosted cake layers to the Fandras! As for the tablescape, I've seen Sandra Lee make a tablescape with hubcaps so a tablescape with unfrosted cake layers and seasoning packets would be a cinch!

First, you take a big chug of vanella vodka (recommended: Stoli Vanilla) and yell Whoot! You then place an unhemmed piece of fabric from the craft store down the center of your table. Next, you empty out 18 guacamole seasoning packets ( recommended:McCormick) INto a bowl and set the empty packets aside. Then you empty out 100 more packets( recommended: Lawry's) of various flavors and sizes (also reserving the powder for later) and glue the empty packets together like a house of cards with your hot glue gun(recommended:HG-410AK). Gluing the various sizes together may be challenging, so I suggest getting out a second bottle of vanella vodka from your private stock to chug from as needed.

You need your house of seasoning packets to be at least six stories high. Once you have it to the desired height, place in the middle of your table (recommended: The Dining Room Space). Take a big chug of vodka and yell Whoot! Then you take 12 empty 4" decorative ceramic cachepots (recommended:Pottery Barn) and crumble up 13 devil's food cake layers and place some of the cake inside each pot to resemble dirt. (Save any extra "dirt" for another purpose.) Go in your kitchen and eat 12 frozen novelties (recommended: Popsicles) and return with the *unwashed* sticks. Take a big chug of vodka, yell Whoot! and attempt to hip check your dining table.

Take a flamethrower (recommended: M2) and thoughtfully burn the edges of the 12 empty guacamole seasoning packets so they look old. Place a good sized blob of glue from your hot glue gun inside of a seasoning packet, and insert one of the unwashed sticks about one inch, and hold the packet shut until the glue dries. Repeat eleven more times and insert the end of a Popsicle stick INto each cachepot filled with cake. Okay, turn the stick around and try to insert the end that doesn't have a seasoning packet glued to it if that is easier for you. Take a big chug of vodka and yell Whoot! as you work on picking the dried glue off your face from when you briefly passed out on your glue gun.

Place your guacamole seasoning packet "plants" on the left end of your table beside the house of seasoning packets. Place a kiddie pool (recommended: Just Kids Pools) on the other side of the house of seasoning packets, and fill it completely with vanella vodka. Locate a candle tall enough to be placed inside the pool filled with vodka, but not so tall that it touches the canopy of the pool. Light candle with flamethrower being thoughtful so that you don't catch the canopy of the pool on fire. Take a big chug of vodka and yell Whoot!while doing an interpretive dance about how you are the smartest thing on your block.

Take 12 unfrosted cake layers of various flavors and arrange them around the perimeter of the remaining table space. Squeeze them in if needed and don't be afraid to have your guests share chairs if necessary. Times are tough, so sometimes we must economize like this. Take an empty tuna can and punch out the center of each cake layer and crumble this INto a bowl and set aside for later use. INto the hole at each "place setting", I want you to place 1/4 cup of the seasoning powder you reserved from making the house of seasoning packets. Just eyeball it or use the lid from a mayonnaise jar (recommended: Hellman's) for measuring. These cake layers will act as your plates. For utensils, some cute disposables (recommended:Snap-a-Party ) will be super sweet! Pop out the plate and save for later use but, leave everything else attached so your guests can enjoy removing their own utensils. The extra plastic that remains is their favor. Take a big chug of vodka and yell Whoot!

Open up a twelve pack of paper towels (recommended: Bounty) and fold them decoratively so that you have twelve miniature Statues of Liberty. Place one in the center of each "plate" so that the hole containing seasoning packet powder is completely covered.Take a big chug of vodka and yell Whoot!

Now take the bowl of various flavors of cake you punched out with the tuna can, and crumble some INto 12 martini glasses (recommended: Crate and Barrel), top with a vanella pudding cup ( recommended: JELL-O), and some whipped topping (recommended: Cool Whip). Sprinkle some of the guacamole seasoning packet powder on top and store them in refrigerator for later. When it's time for dessert, pour in a shot of vanella vodka, chocolate liqueur (recommended:Godiva ), coconut rum ( recommended:Malibu ), and creme de menthe (recommended:DeKuyper). If any alcohol spills while doing this, don't be afraid to sop it up with leftover cake crumbs and eat them before you serve the dessert to your guests.

Now some of you may be wondering where the rest of the food is for this soiree. Well, the rest of the menu will depend on what colors you wish to wear and use for the unhemmed piece of fabric from the craft store that will be acting as your tablecloth. It's very important when entertaining to have all of your decorating elements and food items coordinate with the ensemble of the host or hostess. Therefore, you must plan all of this before selecting the remainder of your menu.

Speaking of vodka...Take a big chug of vodka and yell Whoot!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Whoot! Even More Fun with Feedjit!!!

I was checking my Feedjit to see what search terms had brought visitors over to my little blog. I'm used to finding search terms like coconut cake, homemade cleaning wipes, Sandra Lee and her arussipes, various searches related to hairballs, etc..

Today I find this:

San Antonio, Texas arrived from google.com on "Hairballs on the carpet of life: SHCWSL- Homecoming Tailgate" by searching for unfrosted cooked cake layers for sale. 15:36:00 -- 1 hour 43 minutes ago

So I followed the link to the search results and yep, my blog was the third result:

I said in that post:

"Should I be on the lookout for a new chain of stores called "No Monkey Business Here!" featuring a entire line of unfrosted layer cakes, seasoning packets, booze, and items for creating tablescapes? *bangs head on desk muttering and crying about the future of food in the USA*"

Could it be that I have just found the very first customer for such a business? Or was it another shrike who was just curious if there actually are stores where one can easily find unfrosted layer cakes for sale?

The world will never know!

Whoot! It rained this morning!!

In honor of this most splendid occasion, we need a little happy music!

I own this movie and sing along with it.

Here's another good movie to watch on a rainy day.

Yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting

This post is also a victim of my itchy trigger finger as I detailed in my post about putting garlic in pizza dough, so I only have one photo to share with you.

Because I recently made coconut cake and chocolate angel food cake, I have a lot of egg yolks in my freezer to use up. Unfortunately I forgot to properly prepare my yolks for freezing so I was unsure how this recipe was going to turn out. I did make one change though and substituted Mr. Hairball's favorite chocolate frosting for the one recommended in the above recipe.

Now first up I must tell you that my egg yolks were not pretty at all after defrosting. I saw them and thought there's just no way this is going to work. I so wish I had a picture to share. The egg yolks had unfortunately separated into chunks ! I decided to push on and just see what happened. My sweet DH recently sniped me some replacement beaters for my hand mixer on Ebay, so that made this task much easier. I followed the directions as closely as possible for this recipe except I beat the batter on a higher setting for a slighter longer amount of time. After it appeared well mixed, I took a wooden spoon and scraped down to the bottom to check for any bits that had escaped the wrath of my mixer but, everything looked great.

I poured my batter into a prepared 9x13 baking pan and slipped it into the oven and hoped for the best. Yes, layer cakes are gorgeous but, I don't normally have room to store one in my refrigerator. Due to climate and my small household size, a cake left out on the counter can easily go bad before we can eat it all. Because of this, I don't normally make very many layer cakes.

The results were better than expected and I will keep this recipe to make again. Since the recipe calls for cake flour, the crumb is very tender and the chocolate frosting with a hint of coffee flavor goes very nicely with it if I do say so myself. My pretty picture got deleted so all I have for you is this one that I snapped last night after we've been picking at this poor cake for a couple of days!

Sometimes the best cakes are the ones you eat in your kitchen, wearing your jammies and enjoying a big glass of milk. LOL

Can you put garlic in your pizza dough??

I have no pictures for this post due to user error. I thought I had uploaded all the pictures from my camera to the computer so I erased them on the camera. Duh!

I've been meaning to get back in the habit of making homemade pizza again and have been collecting recipes from my fellow bloggers for pizza dough. Judy of Judy's Kitchen has one on her blog that looks good and Rosie of Kitchens are Monkey Business makes and blogs about her homemade pizza on a regular basis.

I remembered reading somewhere that too much garlic can retard the action of the yeast so caution should be used when making bread doughs that contain garlic. I figured since Rosie makes pizza on a regular basis, that she would be a good person to ask about where the line is about how much garlic can you put in your pizza dough and still get a good rise. Rosie emailed me back saying that she had never heard of this but, was aware of sources that report that raw garlic cloves have the ability to cure yeast infections. (That form of yeast is Candida albicans and the yeast normally used in baking is Saccharomyces cerevisiae.) Rosie suggested that I just try it and see what happens and to please share my results with her.

I should have split the dough up so I would have a control but, I was feeling lazy so I just dumped in four large cloves ( like maybe six normal sized cloves) of minced garlic to my dough as it was mixing in the bread machine and let it go through its paces. I peeked in at the dough and it appeared to rise just like any other yeast dough I've made. When the machine finished, I had a nice, smooth, silky dough that was ready to be made into pizza. I smooshed out the dough on a baking sheet, and baked it at 425F for a bit till it just started to get some color. Then I pulled it back out of the oven, and topped it with tomato paste mixed with salt, pepper, and olive oil, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Next, I put on some pepperoni, and some leftover crumbled up hot pork breakfast sausage . It was most tasty!

In conclusion, if garlic does inhibit the action of baking yeast, then you have to add more than I did.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

So you think you can dance?

I know most of you have already seen this but, it cracks me up! I've had to deal with the more insane branch of my family today so I need some laughter right now.

Checking in

I didn't want anybody to think I was dead or some evil rogues had kidnapped me or anything. Just been busy doing some crafts, cooking, baking, and playing catch-up on housework from the weekend.

The weather is more humid than usual this week and there's even a decent chance of some of the "R" word falling on the fair city of Hairballville! Whoot! Keep your fingers crossed for us, as we've only had about an inch of precipitation since November.

I hope all of you are doing well in your little corner of the world!

Hairball

PS: My current Feedjit location reflects what I hope happens this week in my town weather wise!