Living with RA

For the past few months, the joints in my shoulders have been hurting me. I finally went and saw my DR. and she gave me some muscle relaxers and some exercises to do. Didn't really work. Then my hands started to hurt and swell up a ton.

After 2 months of that pain (I hate to see DR's, can't ya tell? hehe), I went back to her and she ordered a bunch of blood work because of my family history of Rheumatoid Arthritis. The very next day, she called me and said it was positive for RA. She referred me to a specialist and I called and set up an appointment to see him. (this all happened last week btw). The so called earliest appointment I could get was at the end of April on a freaking Saturday. Talk about inconvenient. The drive is 45 minutes away too.

So while I wait for this first appointment with the RA guy, I have been reading up about it online. I have all the symptoms that it lists, which I always thought were for something else. Like for instance, I am always tired. But I just thought it was because I get home from work at midnight and fall asleep around 2am or so only to wake up a million times a night because I am so sore. I know that didn't help and probably added to my fatigue.

I am also not sure if I even want to take any of the medications that are used to treat RA. The side effects alone are scary. Hopefully this doctor I see is open to a more natural treatment. I take enough medication for my asthma and rather not have any more chemicals in my body that will damage my liver.

I know that exercise is suppose to help, but honestly it hurts to move. My feet (well mostly my toes) hurt a ton every morning. I shuffle around the house like a little old lady (I am only 34 damn it!) and it takes a few hours to actually get them to bend so I can do anything that requires me on my feet.

Everyday chores take me forever. Shopping wears me out and driving hurts my hands and neck. I work 45 minutes away from where I live, so that drive is getting to me. The hubby thinks that I will be going out on disability soon. I highly doubt that. Come the end of the night, I can move better and my hands aren't so sore. Typing actually seems to make it better, if I do it in moderation.

Well, I am off to do some errands and chores.

Home Made Detergent

I have been reading everywhere about making your own detergent. So I decided to give it a try. It took alittle time to find all the ingredients for the powder detergent, but I found them eventually. I have seen a ton for a liquid form of it, but it looks too lumpy and I have no place to store that much of it, so I opted for the powder form.

I got the Fels Naptha at Shaws grocery store, the washing soda at Stop & Shop grocery store and the Borax at Walmart. Two of the stores are near my house, but Walmart is 25 minutes away. I haven't been able to find the Borox any closer. *

*Edit** Now I have 3 major grocery stores all within a 2 mile radius and I am able to find all the ingredients there**

Here is the recipe that I am using:

2 cups (almost one full bar) of Fels  Naptha finely grated
1 cup Wasing Soda
1 cup Borox
Mix all together
Use 2 tbs per load of wash

For a test load, I washed my sons and hubby's socks. My sons socks can get black very fast (he likes to run around outside in just socks). I use to use All and a ton of bleach and they never got very white. This is one reason why I wanted to try this home made soap. Another is the cost. Well, the cost is the number one reason.

Well, after the wash was done, I took them outside to dry (we don't own a dryer). The sun shinning on the clean socks make me blink. Thankfully I have transition lenses on my glasses because I needed sunglasses the socks were so clean. They even smelled clean.

Normally after air drying in the sun, the socks would get all hard and crusty with the All detergent. Not with this home made soap. The socks stayed soft even after drying.

I have some All detergent I will be using up on my sheets, blankets and towels, but all our clothes will be washed in this new home made soap. Then once the All is gone, it will be home made soap all the way.

Here are some websites to find home made detergent recipes:

The Family Homestead
Tip Nut ~This is where I got my recipe. It is #4 on the list~
The Frugal Shopper
Modern Cottage ~This site even has a nice fabric softener recipe. I may have to try this one out too~
Video on how to make your laundry soap on You Tube

Green Cleaning Recipes

Clean & Green

Excellent nontoxic alternatives exist for those harsh chemical cleaners and many of them are already sitting on your kitchen shelf. 

Baking soda works well for cleaning glassware, especially coffee pots, and removes red wine stains from carpeting. 

A baking soda and water paste removes tea stains from ceramics and polishes silver and stainless steel.

Use coarse salt to scour copper pots and other cookware. It will also help clean up fresh spills in the oven.

Lemon juice removes grease from stove tops and other kitchen surfaces.

Olive oil (3 to 1 with vinegar or 2 to 1 with lemon juice) makes a great wood furniture polish.

Here are some specific recipes for a clean — and healthy — home:

Air Freshener
4 oz. distilled water, 2 oz. rubbing alcohol, 30 drops of essential oil of choice (can blend fragrances. For example, 15 drops of orange and 15 drops of clove can be combined for a winter holiday air freshener)
Combine in a carefully labeled spray bottle and enjoy!

Carpet Freshener
In a container with a tight-fitting lid, combine 1 cup crushed dried herbs (such as lavender or rosemary) with 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 2 teaspoons baking soda. Shake well to blend. Sprinkle the mixture on carpet and let sit for one hour. Vacuum.

Copper Cleaner
With a rag or sponge, coat dirty copper with an even layer of ketchup. Allow ketchup to penetrate the tarnished metal for approximately 20 minutes. Rinse with warm or hot water and buff to a shine.

Disinfectant — Heavy-Duty
Combine 1/4 cup powdered laundry detergent, 1-tablespoon borax, 3/4 cup hot water and 1/4 pine oil. Slowly stir the detergent and borax into the water to dissolve. Add the pine oil (available at hardware stores and supermarkets) and mix well. For bathrooms, use the mixture full strength. For kitchens, dilute with water.

Drain Clearing Agent
Sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda in and around the drain opening. Follow with 1 cup of white vinegar. Repeat if necessary and flush with hot water.

Glass Cleaner
Combine 1/4 cup vinegar and one quart of water. Plain club soda also works!

Grease Stain Remover
Cover stain with a mixture of borax and water. Rub in and wipe off. Rinse well after applying stain remover.

Kitchen Disposal Freshener
Just drop in a few lemon wedges and flip the switch.

Laundry Bleach
The only ingredients are 1/4 cup of lemon juice and some sunshine! Use the lemon juice in the washing machine's rinse cycle. After clothes have spun, hang in the sun to dry.

Multipurpose cleaner:
Combine 1-teaspoon borax, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon dishwashing liquid, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 2 cups hot water.

Mold Remover
Saturate a sponge with full-strength vinegar and scrub the moldy area. Rinse well.

Oven Cleaner
Make a paste of equal parts salt, baking soda and water. First, wipe away any grease and scratch off burnt spots with a scouring brush or steel wool. Finally, apply the paste, let stand five minutes and wipe clean with a damp rug. Scrub if necessary. Do not allow baking soda to touch heating elements or wiring.

Rust remover:
Sprinkle salt on the rust and then squeeze a lime over the salt until it is soaked in juice. Let the mixture sit for up to three hours. The leftover lime rind can be used as a handy scrubber to remove the rust. Another option is to rub the rust with balled-up aluminum foil after wetting it with water. Use caution as aluminum foil will scratch chrome.

Silver Cleaner
Rub the silver with toothpaste; wipe off tarnish and then rinse. Dry with a soft cloth.

Tile floor cleaners:
Mop floor with solution of 1 to 2 teaspoons of liquid dish soap dissolved in 3 gallons of warm water. Rinse with 1 cup of white vinegar in 3 gallons of cool water.

Toilet bowl cleaner:
Combine 1-cup borax with 1/4 cup vinegar or lemon juice to make a paste. Apply it to the inside of the toilet bowl and let it sit for one to two hours before scrubbing.

Wall and wallpaper cleaner:
Dissolve 1/4 cup borax in 1-gallon hot water. Stir to blend. Use a sponge or rag.

Window Cleaner
Mix 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water. Add 5 drops lemon oil or, if you like suds, 5 drops favorite all-natural dishwashing liquid.

Use to wash windows, other glass or mirrors. This mixture can also be kept in a covered container with a rag submerged in the liquid. For damp dusting, simply wring the rag out and wipe surfaces clean.

Wood floor polish:
Mix 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Rub on floor and buff with a clean, dry cloth.

These cane be found here at the Whole Foods Market Website.

Cloth Pads !! Yippy !!

This post was done a few years ago, but I still rave about them, so I had to post it here.  :o)

After hearing many good things about cloth pads, I decided to try them. I couldn't bear paying the amount for only a few pads that some companies wanted, so I made my own. I made two of each color here and have many more cut out ready to sew.

This is the pantyliner pad found at Adahy's Cloth Pad Patterns. They also have an 11 inch pad pattern and a circle pad pattern. For those of you who like the Luna Pads, she has a multi layer pad pattern as well.
The panty liner one was plenty big for me. The 11 inch one looks way to huge, but might work for an overnight pad. I may have to make the multi layer pad. I made mine without  the PUL, as I couldn't find it in my fabric store locally. I did find a few places online to buy it, but at nearly 9.00 a yard + shipping, I figured it was too much.



I just made mine with two layers of terry and two layers of flannel. I leaked through only once, but my periods tend to be very light and with using these, I swear it was even lighter than normal. So silly to be excited about using these, but they are so nice and soft and I will never go back to disposables. I am so tired of the rashes the chemicals that the  disposables gave me.

Moving over from HomesteadBlogger

I am going to be slowly moving over from HomesteadBlogger to here. I Haven't enjoyed the changes made to the site and because of it, my blog has not been updated in months. I use to blog almost every day. Blogging has always been something I enjoyed. Helping others, sharing ideas with others and new friendships.

So, over the next few weeks, I am going to be posting lots of my posts from my old blog then taking it down.