DIY, My Way

I love visiting all my blog friends and seeing what they are doing with their different DIY projects. I find it so inspirational....and also sometimes a little overwhelming. I don't have the time or the energy to work on a million DIY projects. I work full time and we have a very busy social life on top of that. Remember back in my very first post ever I sort of gave you a rundown on what I would be blogging about. That's not to say the list is set in stone by any means but chances are you won't find a ton of DIY projects on my blog at this point in my life. And odd one here and there perhaps....fingers crossed. 

Let's talk about DIY my way. 

Welcome to DIY according to Debbie!

This morning I pulled out all the mason jars that have been "cooking" in my downstairs fridge since the summer months. 

Friends, meet my infusions. 

Alcohol, meet my friends. You may have made their acquaintance before. 

Aren't you all gorgeous?

I know you're not supposed to love one child more than another but I am most definitely partial to these gorgeous raspberry babies. 

Infusing alcohol is quite simple. Amazingly easy, really. Are you ready?

Ok here we go. 

Grab a clean jar that has a lid. 

Fill it with fruit or veggies or vanilla beans or herbs. Experiment. Think about what you like. 

Fill it with your choice of alcohol. 

Close the lid, not too tightly though. Let it breathe. I usually close it tight, give it a couple of gentle shakes, and then loosen it again a bit. 

Put it in the fridge. 

Forget about it for about a month. Sometimes I forget about it for longer. 

That's it, all done! 

Wasn't that tough?  Sorry to put you through that....

When you have time, you can follow the rest of these steps for getting it ready to have drinky-poos! Yes, you heard me right. Drinky poos. 

Make sure your containers are clean and ready to go. 

Side note: These bottles remind me of the beautiful bottles in Brenda's lovely home at Cozy Little House. I have always loved colored glass!

These are the tools I use - my large Pyrex measuring cup (4 cup), the largest mesh strainer I have, twine, wooden tags, and a permanent marker. And a funnel, but I forgot to put it in the photo! Must have been the fumes....

Put the measuring cup in the sink. Position the mesh strainer over it. 

Carefully pour the contents of the jar into the strainer so the liquid ends up in the measuring cup. At least most of it - trust me, you don't want to waste any of this liquid gold!!

Look at how awesomely beautiful this is! This is the Raspberry Gin, my all time favorite. Best summer drink on the planet - Raspberry Gin on the rocks with a good squeeze of lime. Just ask my contractor. He was in heaven when we toasted with that cocktail at the end of a long week this past summer. 

Pour the strained berries into a labeled freezer bag. I don't save all of them but I do save any batches that are nice and fresh looking. Remember they have been soaking in gin for a couple of months so they are POTENT!!  I like to pop a few into a glass of prosecco....mmmmm.  I bet they would be awesome in a glass of frosty lemonade also!! I might try making raspberry chutney from some of the berries this year if the mood strikes and time allows. 

Feel free to pop a raspberry into your mouth and let your head gently explode. 

Pour the liquid into a clean bottle. I have some wine bottles I save for this purpose, labels soaked off. And these lovely colored glass bottles also. 

Important: do not put the lid on at this point! I made that mistake once and the bottle exploded all over the kitchen as it came to room temperature!!! Kind of like Benita's eggs, in a way. Except with slivers of broken glass and raspberry gin all over the kitchen. Just picture it. It was NOT. GOOD. 

Seriously though - isn't this Gorgeous? My whole kitchen smelled like a distillery this morning!

Done! Label it, leave it on the counter to come to room temperature and then you can seal it up and add it to your bar. As long as it doesn't have fruit pieces in it this will last as long as any other booze on the bar. My raspberry gin last summer lasted me through the winter and into the summer again (when I finished it with my contractor!) and it still tasted every bit as fresh as the day I strained it. 

The end result is three bottles of Raspberry Gin....I told you - I seriously love this stuff!!

One Cucumber Mint Gin...this should be excellent with tonic and a squeeze of lime. An experiment. I volunteer to be the guinea pig. 

Strawberry Tequila AND Strawberry Vodka. The vodka smelled like heaven. 

And 2 bottles of Cucumber Tequila - I made this last summer with some excess cucumbers from the garden and it makes the most amazing margaritas. You have to believe me. No, really! I told you all about it in this post. Way back when. 

Today's harvest. Tee hee, not quite the same as this one is it?

Hey, it's all about the balance, isn't it? 

After all we only go around once. 

Sharing at Cozy Little House  and Tipsy Tuesday 

My Favorite Cleaning Products

Let's face it, nobody really LIKES to spend their days off cleaning their home - but it has to be done. And if you have the right tools it makes the job just a little bit more pleasant, not to mention quicker. 

Today I thought I'd share the items I use to keep my home relatively clean on a daily basis. I work full time and have a busy social life so it's never perfect but at least I'm not embarrassed if I have unexpected guests. 

My go-to for daily wipe ups in the kitchen is Mrs. Meyers - usually the Lavender scent although I do swap the scent out from time to time to change things up. 

Via

I buy the multi purpose cleaner and when the spray bottle gets low, just fill it with water and the multi purpose cleaner and we're good to go. This product is eco friendly, smells fantastic, and really gets all the gunk off! And the price is right so that's a bonus. 

Via

 For dish soap, my all time favorite is Caldrea's Lavender Pine. 

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The scent is amazing and really makes washing dishes a pleasure rather than a chore. Of course,  I have a dishwasher so I'm not washing a ton of dishes.....if I was, this would be a little expensive.  I always buy it on sale but it still costs more than a supermarket brand. To me, it's worth it and I've been using it for about 15 years, I think. 

I keep a bottle of Dawn Platinum on hand as well - I fill up the built in soap dispenser on the sink with it for soaking burnt on foods prior to washing. It truly cuts through the worst messes. And I love to cook so I do make some big messes!

Via

In the dishwasher I use Finish Powerball - I get the biggest box I can get through whatever company currently has the best price - it's inexpensive, and it does a terrific job. 

I keep a spray bottled filled with bleach and water in the bathroom to spray down the shower floor after each shower. The bathroom smells so fresh all day. 

I bought this squeegee with a built in pump sprayer for keeping the shower door clean.

I fill the spray bottle with a mixture of water and this squeegee off window cleaning concentrate and it takes less than 1 minute at the end of each shower to keep the glass door clean. 

Via

For counters in the bathroom I use Mrs Meyers also, same as the kitchen. 

Toilets and sinks get cleaned with Lysol Clean and Fresh. 

Via

Can you tell I like lavender? Yup, guilty as charged!

The floors get vacuumed regularly - let's face it, with 2 dogs they need it. 

For daily/quick pick ups I use my Dyson Origin DC44 Cordless Stick Vacuum which I bought during an incredible sale at JC Penney. Incredible sale. About 1/3 the regular price. Woo hoo!

Via

It does a fantastic job of cleaning up the pet hair and crumbs and such on a daily basis. You wouldn't believe all the stuff this little guy can pick up! And it comes with a wall charger so you hang it up out of the way and when you need it it's all charged up and ready to go. If you get it at a good price, it's totally worth it. 

For a deeper clean I use my full size Dyson Animal Complete. 

I held off on the whole Dyson craze for a long, long time but during another great sale, when my previous vacuum just wasn't cutting it with the dog hair any longer in my old home, I bit the bullet. And I love it. What a difference! It's heavier than my old vacuum so I keep this one upstairs and the old one gets used in the lower level, which gets less traffic. Every now and again I'll bring the big Dyson downstairs and do a deep clean but for everyday cleaning the old vacuum does just fine. 

My old vacuum is a Shark Navigator Lift Away Vacuum, which I have had for over 4 years now. 

Via

It's also a good vacuum and very light and easy to use. But it really does not have the suction of a Dyson. And although it is quite good on rugs it doesn't do nearly as good a job on hard surfaces - it seems to kick the dirt all over the place rather than picking it up. The Dyson sucks up every ounce of dust that's in it's path, whether it be on carpet or hard floors. 

To wash floors I use my Rubbermaid Reveal Spray Mop for weekly cleaning. 

Via

I fill one bottle with Bona for the wood floors and the other bottle can be filled with any all purpose cleaner and water for tile floors. The pads go right in the washing machine when you're done and come out great every time. 

This product is fantastic for wood floors, it dries in an instant and leaves the floor shiny and fresh. Sometimes I even use it in the kitchen and bathroom and it works very well on the tile floors also. 

For other surfaces, I use a variety of items. 

Via

Murphy's Oil mixed with water in a spray bottle gets used on the butcher block counter and the dining room table for everyday cleaning after a meal. 

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For a deep conditioning and treatment on the butcher block counter and dining room table I use Howard's Orange Oil - I will only do this if I won't be cooking for at least 24 hours so I can give it time to dry. It does a really good job cleaning and conditioning the wood. I also use this on my other wood pieces in the house - it leaves such a nice shine and smells wonderful. 

Via

For glass, this is one of the better cleaners I've tried. My sweetie picks it up for me at Sam's Club but Amazon has it as well. 

Via

I also really like this glass cleaner - I pick it up when I'm in Lowe's. 

When Fall gives way to Winter I like to swap out my kitchen cleaners for something with a seasonal scent. 

Via

This is usually one of my winter treats to myself - whenever I'm in Williams-Sonoma I have to get myself one of their cleaning trios as a little gift to me. 

Via

One year I even super-splurged and went all out with Thymes Frasier Fir - the whole line for my kitchen - dish soap, hand soap, and kitchen spray. Oh boy, that was truly a way to make cleaning up the kitchen a joy!! I know I bought it on sale somewhere but it was still a splurge....

Now that you know how truly pathetic I am - what products make your everyday cleaning life more enjoyable?

The Wildlife Outside My Window - Good and Bad

I love the wildlife outside my window! Even when I was living in the city I had a little bird feeder and a bird bath outside my bedroom window. I took such delight in that little bit of wildlife that would come eat the treats I would put out for them.

On that note, most of these photos were taken through the window so excuse any fuzziness.....

I felt sorry for the little critters when I moved away, as I do with each move. They get used to having regular meals provided for them and then all of a sudden....nothing.

Well, that's not happening again since I've decided I'm never ever moving again. Ever.

I love looking out and seeing all the critters, large and small, that bring me such joy. Like my little chipmunk friend.  And my neighbors' horses, seen so clearly out my bedroom window now that the trees are getting bare. They are my favorite neigh-bors - ahem. Sorry. 

Not all the creatures bring me joy and some of the wildlife up here on the mountain can be quite scary. 

Like the coyotes. And the bobcats. And the snakes. Ewwww, I hate snakes. And the skunks. And the porcupines. 

And the bears. They are the scariest of all. 

And I had my first real visit from one last night....well, first time in this house. 

I went to put the peanuts out for the birds this morning and one of my feeders was missing. I found the feeder pole on the stairs and a chunk of wood torn from the deck railing where the bear had climbed the stairs, reached over the gate, and tore off the feeder pole. And took the feeder. 

He carried it down by the driveway and broke it to bits. Destroyed it. Grrrrrrrrrr!

It's not the first time I've had a bear take the feeders....not in a long shot. It's just the first time in my new house. 

Crap. I was really hoping they didn't know where I lived!

We gathered the pieces and my sweetie will figure out what parts I'm missing and I'll contact the company for replacements. This company is fabulous, they truly stand behind their product. 

Funny that it's a squirrel buster isn't it? I wish they  made a bear buster! 

It doesn't exist. Not that I know of. If anyone knows of a way to truly keep the bears away from the feeders please share! 

I'll have to bring the feeders into the garage every night before dusk now. Until I'm off his regular feeding route again. Or he goes into hibernation. 

The bear at my last house didn't hibernate in the winter. I had to bring the feeders in every single night, all year. It's irritating to have this extra chore every evening but for me, watching the birds outweighs the annoyance. 

I found a replacement in the garage, installed the feeder pole again, and waited. It wasn't long before we were back in business!

The Nuthatch is coming for the suet. He'd like to get to the peanuts but the Blue Jays won't let him. 

This will do for now!

This is the first time I've seen the Mourning Doves on the flat feeder. 

I honestly wasn't all that sure they were bright enough to figure out there was seed in there! My sweetie calls them the Doofus Birds. He's kind of right....but don't tell him I said so!

The Blue Jays have been regular visitors for a while now but this is the first time I ever captured three on there at once - usually they are too busy fighting!

It didn't take the Gold Finches long to figure out how to work the replacement feeder. Smart little pipsqueaks!

The Dark Eyed Junco comes around looking for tidbits on the ground. Although they are primarily ground feeders they will come to the feeders as well on occasion. 

The Finches like this little thistle feeder outside the kitchen window. I really enjoy being at the sink and watching them up close! 

This poor little Mourning Dove was trying to stay warm on Sunday morning when the temps were in the teens - I felt so bad for him! Look how he fluffed up his feathers to try and stay warm! Yup, that was snow on the railing. That was this cold blustery day.

I love watching the antics of the squirrels. They are such goofy little critters! This guy looks like he has ants in his pants waiting for the other squirrel to have his fill. 

Waiting not so patiently for his turn at the feeder.....he's looking a little anxious now. 

And he gave up. Perhaps the Blue Jay bullied him away. 

The Blue Jays are ganging up on the squirrel but he doesn't seem to be bothered at all. 

Getting a little impatient now....."Come on, you've had enough - it's our turn!"

What kind of wildlife do you see out your window?