Kool-Aid for the KitchenAid

Kool Aid Man from www.gamesprays.com

Whenever I clean anything around the house, which isn't very often, Pete always makes the remark that it smells clean. In my book, clean doesn't smell. Pine Sol smells, Windex smells, Pledge smells, but those are the smells of chemicals, not the smell of clean. I think we all connect the smells of cleaning products with our past cleaning experiences or childhood. What about the future?

www.Cascadeclean.com

I've been concerned for some time about what chemicals are making those "clean" smells and what other chemicals are ending up in our leach field. We have a septic system up here. When we used the last Cascade dishwasher tablet I decided to make my own dishwasher soap.

I found a great blog that provides a number of recipes for homemade cleaning products, including dishwasher soap. On diy Natural   
 http://diynatural.com/ I found a recipe that listed Kool-Aid as one of its ingredients and I was hooked. Talk about childhood memories. . . Who knew that Kool-Aid stands really should have been set up to sell cleaning products, not sugary drinks for kids.


diy Natural blogger, Matt Jabbs, provides a recipe with 4 simple ingredients. You just mix them together, I mixed them in the now empty Cascade container, and you have enough powder for 24 loads.

1/2 Cup Borax Natural Laundry Booster

1/2 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1/4 Cup Kosher salt

1/4 citric acid OR 8 packages of unsweetened lemonade Kool-Aid

Sample of My Homemade Dishwasher Soap

You can get citric acid online, and I probably will, because those little packages of Lemonade Kool-Aid were not easy to find up here this time of year. Jabbs says not to use any other flavor because you will end up with blue, red or purple dishwasher interior. I think that might be a reason to use grape or cherry Kool-Aid - psychadelic Quiet Power.

All our appliances seem
to have names.
The Quiet Power II really
isn't too quiet.

Quiet Power II     

I have been using the recommended 1 Tablespoon per load in our Quiet Power II (it's not a KitchenAid, but a GE) and the dishes come out as clean as ever. Jabbs recommends using white vinegar in the rinse compartment. I think I will as soon as the Jet-Dry runs out.

Maddie Jo was pleased with the results.

I've been using a vinegar and water concoction in lieu of 409 and Windex, but I'm not very satisfied with it. I need to work on tweaking it. We are almost out of laundry detergent, so I think that will be the next project. The diy Natural blog has a recipe for that as well.  Asher seems to have a different idea for the next homemade cleaning project.

"Let's make
 doggie shampoo."

"Is it time for a bath?"

For the complete recipe and cost breakdown of the homemade dishwasher soap use this link: http://diynatural.com/simple-effective-jabs-homemade-dishwasher-detergent-rinse-agent/

What Would Martha Do?

photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

amazon.com

I was looking through my old copies of Martha Stewart's Christmas and Handmade Christmas: The Best of Martha Stewart Living for inspiration and ideas on a particularly vexing decorating challenge.


The first book tells how she decorates her house, wraps gifts, and cooks elaborate dishes for her family and friends throughout the holidays using a thirty day timeline. Nothing to help me. Handmade Christmas looked promising. I paged though pictures of boxes made from acorns, a wreath created from twenty kinds of succulents and starfish studded with silver. Close, but no banana. What I would like to ask Martha is,

amazon.com

How do you Decorate a Mounted Musky for Christmas?

Thanks to the generosity of the world renowned musky fisherman, Deane Ferm, we have a beautiful 44", 22 lb musky hanging on our fireplace.  Musky has been hanging around since 1991. How can I make this magnificent fish blend in with the Christmas stockings, evergreen boughs, candles and holiday cards? Neither your books, nor your magazines could help, although I did find a rather interesting article on setting up a fish tank on your website http://www.marthastewart.com/article/set-up-a-fish-tanks

Well, I decided to keep in simple, no one likes a gaudy, overdone fish. So, Musky's head is tied with a green satin bow, two ornaments hang from his fins and a beautiful blue ornament rests in his mouth.

Nothing Says Christmas Like a Decorated Musky

Musky hanging above the fireplace

A close up of Musky

Now that my Christmas decorating dilemma has been resolved. I can share a few more traditional decorating schemes with you.  I made two wreaths using wreath forms from The Warehouse. The forms sell for a dollar.

jingle bell wreath

pine wreath with lights

wreath form

  

The rest of the photos are of our outdoor decorations.

front of the house

you can see our tree through the window

The lakefront view

The dogs' pen is decorated too

The next two decorations are tributes to my childhood Christmas' in Mequon and my Dad.

A little blue tree for Dad

A decorated front pole
completed before the New Year

Well, despite not getting any practical Northwoods holiday decorating advice from Martha Stewart, I'm still a big fan.  It looks like we're ready for Christmas.

With all these lights Santa Paws will surely find our house. Won't he?