December musings

What fun!  So many interesting projects in varying stages of completion!  It is a crafty and creative season at  my house right now, and I want to take a bunch of pictures and babble on--ah, but I forgot--I can't tell you anything because most of this stuff is Christmas-oriented.  BOO.  What to blog about when everything is a secret?

Well, first, an update on the homemade cleaning:  the shampoo and conditioner are still working.  I am still amazed.  I am going to strain my herbal vinegar concoction this weekend and start using that in my conditioning rinse.  I have fiddled a little here and there with my routine, but over all, this has been quite a revelation.  Ditto for the floor cleaner.  Dish soap?  Well, I'm still waving a white flag over that one.  Oh well.  All other cleaning is being accomplished with previously purchased goods.  I am still savoring the aromatherapy of using essential oils rather than nasty, heavy synthetic fragrances.

I am excited to complete all of the Christmas projects and have time to address a few needs around the house.  First, we need to build shelves in the laundry room, so that I can get everything up off the floor and have access to our crawl space/potential root cellar.  I need to get an idea of the winter-time temperatures and humidity levels down there, and I want to see if we have any small, furry critters with access from the outside.

As soon as the shelves are up, I am really looking forward to building a drying rack for laundry.  It will need to fit our long, narrow rectangle of a laundry room, and I want it rigged up on a pulley system so that I can raise it up and out of the way while the laundry is drying.

Lastly, the bathroom desperately needs a makeover.  I need to hang new towel bars and paint the walls and trim.  I want the ugly mirror/medicine chest GONE.  The sink will also need to go eventually, but I'm thinking a coat of paint on the ugly cabinet underneath may be enough for now.

Once I am done with these plans, it will be time to build nest boxes for the chickies and almost time to start some of the earliest seeds for next year's garden (oh yeah!)  Um, and address my looming thesis.  Eeek.